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Li from Beijing asks:
"In the following sentences - Use of the Software is governed by the terms of the end user license agreement. Please read our disclaimer - what is the 'disclaimer' about?"
My comments:
Had you read the disclaimer itself, you'd probably have figured it out.
A disclaimer is a legal statement from the provider of a product or service solemnly declaring that they will not be responsible - for any mishap (either foreseeable or unforeseeable) that may arise from using or misusing the product or service.
Disclaimers are a measure of legal protection taken by the product or service provider, such as a manufacturer of tea things. If someone cuts himself by a broken tea cup or by accidentally spilling boiling water down on the pants, with such a disclaimer, they could not claim legally (in a court of law) that they have not been warned of the potential safety risks.
As societies become increasingly litigious, service providers write all sorts of disclaimers, inventing an array of scenarios of potential mishaps just so that they are thoroughly protect from potentially hostile customers.
A software vendor may, for example, state something to the effect that if upon installing the software you step onto a fat piece of watermelon skin on the next trip down the corridor, they will not be held responsible even though the chance of this happening is slimmer than a woman in a beauty pageant.
The following is part of a typical disclaimer from a website providing software downloads: "The Software is made available for download solely for use by end users according to the License Agreement. Any reproduction or redistribution of the Software not in accordance with the License Agreement is expressly prohibited by law, and may result in severe civil and criminal penalties. Violators will be prosecuted to the maximum extent possible."
If you take part in a web chat, such as a BBS forum at, say, Sina.com, you will see a disclaimer reading: "All messages appearing in these pages represent the views of the speakers only. They do not represent views of Sina.com."
A disclaimer from Wikipedia, the online open-content encyclopedia that allows anyone with an Internet connection and World Wide Web browser to create or alter its content, reads: "Please be advised that nothing found here has necessarily been reviewed by professionals with the expertise required to provide you with complete, accurate or reliable information.
"That is not to say that you will not find valuable and accurate information in Wikipedia; much of the time you will. However, Wikipedia cannot guarantee the validity of the information found here. The content of any given article may recently have been changed, vandalized or altered by someone whose opinion does not correspond with the state of knowledge in the relevant fields."
I once read this disclaimer from Google: "In accordance with local laws, regulations and policies, part of these search results are not displayed."
In this case, when you Google and fail, Google wants to direct your critical finger-pointing to censors who may want to suppress certain information local authorities do not want everybody to have access to.
With a compromise like this, Google at least guarantees some degree of the "free" flow of information. As one commentator pointed out sarcastically, Google had perhaps decided that "censored information is better than no information at all."
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