READER LICENSE AGREEMENT

IMPORTANT! READ CAREFULLY BEFORE BREAKING SEAL:

This Reader License Agreement (the Agreement) is a binding legal agreement between the licensor (you) and the licensee. By tearing the perforated seal, the licensor agrees to be bound by the terms of this Agreement. Your agreement constitutes an acknowledgment that you have read this Agreement, understand it, and are bound by its terms and conditions. If you do not agree to the aforementioned terms and conditions, do not tear the perforated seal.

Covering the seal with adhesive tape may keep you from inadvertently entering into the Reader License Agreement. However, the licensee will not be held liable for accidental breakage of the seal and subsequent inadvertent entry into this Agreement.

Any attempt to reseal the Agreement using any commercially available or privately mixed glue, mucilage, gum, paste, or cement with the intent to circumvent the terms of the Agreement is prohibited.

GRANT OF LICENSE:

The licensee hereby grants you a nonexclusive, nontransferable license to read the Article subject to the following terms.

You may license only one copy of the Article for reading, defined as a real-time activity in which the eyes scan one word at a time in sequence without repetition. You may read the Article at any time of day, using lightbulb ratings of your choice. You may read the Article at any location except under circumstances that might interfere with the opportunity for other readers to glimpse your copy. You may allow someone else to read the Article only with periodic interruptions to suggest that the person obtain his or her own Reader License. Reading will take place only in a manner that complies with all applicable laws in the jurisdictions in which the reading takes place. Reading will not take place during the commission of unlawful acts, including, but not limited to, armed robbery, narcotics sale, flag burning, and terrorist activities. You may read the Article any number of times, provided the words are scanned sequentially rather than in a repetitive pattern conducive to memorization. Memorization in excess of two consecutive sentences is grounds for termination of your license to read the Article.

You may read the Article only for private, noncommercial use. You may not read the Article aloud or as part of a dramatic monologue. You may not read it to provide, or as part of, any commercial product or service. You may not use it in a PowerPoint presentation for any purpose - ever.

Your license to read the Article expires 30 days after acceptance of the Reader License Agreement, as indicated by tearing the perforated seal, after which the printed ink may fade in such a way that the words may cease to be legible. In this case, purchasing another license will be your sole remedy.

Any graphic elements appearing in proximity to the text of the Article, including but not limited to photos, diagrams, captions, and advertisements, are included for viewing at your option. If you choose to view such elements, such use will be governed by a separate Graphical Elements Viewer Agreement, with all the rights and restrictions that pertain to such use. The Agreement prohibits any use of these elements aside from viewing in the context of the Article, including, but not limited to, interpersonal communication, modifications of the Article, creation of new articles, and drawing eyeglasses, mustaches, scars, and pimples on portrait photographs.

LICENSE RESTRICTIONS:

In no event may you transfer, assign, rent, lease, sell, or otherwise dispose of the Article on a temporary or permanent basis except as expressly provided herein. You may not modify, translate, parse, or reverse-engineer the Article. You may not remove any proprietary notices or labels. You may not post the Article to any Internet or intranet site not maintained by the licensee. Any such forbidden use shall immediately terminate your license to read the Article.

You may not read the Article in conjunction with any device, program, or service designed to circumvent technological measures employed to control access to, or the rights in, a content file or other work protected by the copyright laws of any jurisdiction.

You may not copy the Article except for backup or archival purposes and during special promotional opportunities, in which case you will accept responsibility for the surrender of remuneration and user data to the licensee.

COPIES:

You may make a single, personal hard copy of the Article for backup or archival purposes, provided that any copy contains the original Article's proprietary notices. You may make a personal copy using a photocopier with the following limitations:

(a) all pages must be reproduced,
(b) all advertisements must be included in their original positions, including but not limited to facing and backing pages,
(c) the first page must be a copy of this license. October 2001 issue cover in which the Article was first published, and
(d) all pages must be bound using a stapler or other binding device.

Standard photographic equipment may be used to produce a personal copy provided that color equipment is used and that all pages are reproduced at their original size. In this case, the resulting negatives belong solely to the licensee and negatives must be surrendered within 48 hours of developing.

A fax transmission is considered a personal copy if the receiving fax machine is less than 50 miles from the transmitting fax device. Otherwise, it is considered a distribution copy and is expressly prohibited by this Agreement.

A personal copy may be drawn by hand using a pen, pencil, stylus, or crayon. the licensee is not responsible for repetitive stress injuries that may occur as a result of making such a copy.

You may make a single personal digital copy of the Article using a scanner, digital camera, or word processor for storage or archival purposes with the following limitations:

(a) you must apply a digital signature to the file that is unique, descriptive, and specific to you, and
(b) you must deliver a hard copy of that signature to the licensee within 30 days of reproducing the Article.

In no event may you email, attach to email, upload to a Web page, download to a floppy, rent, lease, sell, or otherwise change the fonts of this personal digital copy.

A personal copy cannot be stored farther than 50 miles from the location of the original copy. Such a copy is for your own use only and may not be distributed to third parties or displayed outside your normal circle of family and social acquaintances. Any other copying, redistribution, retransmission, or publication of the Article is strictly prohibited without the express written consent of the licensee.

SUBSEQUENT EXPRESSIONS:

You agree to grant to the licensee an exclusive, royalty-free, worldwide, perpetual license to use any personal expressions that arise from the reading of the Article, such as letters to the editor but also including sudden intakes of breath, fits of pique, and fainting spells. The licensee has the right to sublicense, reproduce, distribute, transmit, create derivative works of, publicly display, and publicly perform any materials and other information including but never limited to ideas contained therein, by all means, in any media now known or hereafter developed throughout this known universe or any other to be discovered yet. You also grant to the licensee the right to use your name in connection with submitted materials and other information as well as in connection with all advertising, marketing, and promotional material related thereto. You agree that you shall have no recourse against the licensee for any alleged or actual infringement or misappropriation of any proprietary right in your communications to us.

WARRANTY AND INDEMNIFICATION:

You assume total responsibility and risk for your reading of the Article. The licensee does not guarantee or warrant the veracity or utility of information, facts, and perspectives contained within the Article. It is solely your responsibility to evaluate the accuracy, completeness, and usefulness of all facts, opinions, advice, and other information provided through the Article. The licensee does not make any express or implied warranties, representations, or endorsements whatsoever (including without limitation warranties of names, titles, dates, spellings, or quotations) with regard to the Article. The licensee does not warrant that your reading experience will be uninterrupted or error-free, or that defects in the Article will be corrected. The Article and all ancillary elements are provided on an as-is basis.

You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless the licensee, its parent, subsidiary, and affiliated entities, and the editors, officers, directors, employees, agents, licensors, suppliers of each of them, and any third-party information providers to the Article from and against all losses, expenses, damages, and costs, including reasonable attorney fees, resulting from any action you may take as a result of reading the Article. In no event will the licensee be held liable for incidental, consequential, or indirect damages (including, but not limited to, damages for business interruption, loss of eyewear, and general annoyance) arising out of reading the Article or its disappearance subsequent to the termination of your license, should the licensee be able to accomplish such disappearance, or any claim attributable to errors, omissions, or other inaccuracies in the Article or ancillary elements. The licensee is not responsible for any harm, damage, or distress that may result from reading, including, but not limited to, eyestrain, persistent ignorance, and credit card debt.

You understand further that the Article may contain materials that may be offensive to you, and that, in some cases, such offense is intentional. You agree to access such materials at your own risk. The licensee accepts no responsibility whatsoever for your reaction to such materials.

MISCELLANEOUS:

Because some states do not allow the exclusion or limitation of liability for consequential or incidental damages, the above limitations may not apply to you. In such states, the licensee's liability is limited to the greatest extent permitted by law, subject to our legal team's ability to extend a rope ladder even into hell to pull us out of trouble.

The licensee reserves the right to distribute the Article in other venues and to charge you a licensing fee even if you have already paid for another copy. You agree that you will not do anything to circumvent or defeat the features designed to stop further reading after this license expires.

The licensee may modify the Agreement at any time, and such modifications will be effective immediately. Your continued access to and use of the Article shall be deemed your conclusive acceptance of the modified Agreement.

Any failure to comply with the above terms will result in immediate disintegration of the Article into a fine pulp. The remaining bits, pieces, scraps, or fine powder may be used for any purposes other than the making of an article.

Original version of the present Reader License Agreement was found in article Licensed to Bill in issue 9.10 of Wired Magazine.