If your advertising giveth and your EULA taketh away, don’t be surprised if the FTC comes calling

--- FTC Acting Deputy Director Mary Engle, speaking at the agency's workshop on digital rights management, warns entertainment companies and others who use DRM that they better make sure consumers know exactly what limits and restrictions are attached to their products. Via Good Morning Silicon Valley 3/26/2009.

From Ars Technica:

Mary Engle, an FTC Acting Deputy Director, began her remarks by warning that those who use DRM had better get serious about disclosing it and the limits that it places on products. She referenced the Sony BMG rootkit debacle, saying that "sellers who use DRM technology to enforce the terms of bargains with consumers need to be particularly careful to disclose in advance" what those bargains are.

And just stuffing the disclosure into the fine print of an End User License Agreement (EULA) isn't good enough. "If your advertising giveth and your EULA taketh away," she said, "don't be surprised if the FTC comes calling."