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The Uniform Computer Information Transactions Act (UCITA) is the proposed law for software transactions. Its length, scope, and complexity make it hard even for lawyers to understand, yet its potential impact is enormous. The purpose of this page is to help readers grasp how this law could affect them and to understand why InfoWorld has taken a strong stand opposing UCITA as it is currently written.

What is now called UCITA was originally conceived for the laudable purpose of bringing uniformity and certainty to the rules that apply to software transactions. But critics -- including consumer groups, IT organizations, libraries, and a majority of state attorneys general -- feel the resulting draft is heavily biased in favor of large software publishers. By giving the terms of shrinkwrap and clickwrap licenses the full force of a legally binding contract, opponents say UCITA threatens a host of rights American consumers have always enjoyed.

UCITA is not federal law but a proposed uniform law for each state to consider enacting. Two states -- Maryland and Virginia -- have enacted different versions of it. While the name has changed more than once (for many years it was known as Article 2B and was intended to become part of the Uniform Commercial Code), the project of drafting the law has been in the works for a decade under the auspices of the National Conference of Commissioners of Uniform State Laws (NCCUSL), a body of over 300 commissioners appointed by their respective states.


InfoWorld commentary on UCITA from Ed Foster

InfoWorld columnist and reader advocate Ed Foster has been writing about UCITA and its predecessors since 1995, and is the only journalist to have observed the drafting process up close. The following pieces update his commentary as it has appeared in InfoWorld over this period.


Links to other UCITA resources

A number of organizations and individuals have provided extensive information and resources on UCITA and perspectives both for and against the model law.

  • Links to the most recent drafts of UCITA, as approved by NCCUSL, are hosted on the Univeristy of Pennsylvania Law School Web site and can be found on the NCCUSL archives.
  • The UCITA Online site, authored by Carol A. Kunze, presents the arguments for UCITA and state-by-state legislative tracking of the proposed law. Also available is UCITA Online's predecessor site, containing an anthology of selected documents written by various interests during the UCITA/UCC Article 2B drafting process.
  • The Americans for Fair Electronic Commerce Transactions (AFFECT) coalition Web site provides tutorial information and state-by-state tracking on UCITA. AFFECT is a coalition of business, consumer, IT, and technology-related organizations, including InfoWorld, formed to counter the pro-UCITA lobbying effort.
  • The Badsoftware site provides detailed analyses of UCITA created at various stages of the drafting process by author, attorney and software quality expert Cem Kaner.


Organizations that have voiced support for UCITA's passage
Business Software Alliance
Digital Commerce Coalition
Information Technology Association of America
Equipment Leasing Association of America
Software and Information Industry Association
Computer Software Industry Association
Silicon Valley Software Industry Coalition

Organizations that have opposed UCITA as drafted
Association for Computing Machinery
American Committee for Interoperable Systems
American Library Association
Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility
Consumer Project on Technology
Consumers Union
Digital Future Coalition
Electronic Frontier Foundation
Free Software Foundation
Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers
National Writers Union
SHARE (IT users’ group)
Society for Information Management
Software Engineering Institute

 

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