By downloading the archive, you confirm your agreement in this license.
I. Freeware
First of all, the reasons why Spybot-S&D is free:
I.a. Dedication
Spybot-S&D is dedicated to the most wonderful girl on earth :)
I.b. Binary
What do you get if you buy software? Lots of ones and zeros, nothing more. If they were distributed as art, I could understand to pay for it. But if the main goal of their order is to earn money - by fees or ads - I don't like it!
I.c. Conclusion
This means that I grant you the license to use Spybot-S&D as much as you like. But if you like it, I ask you of one thing: say a prayer for me (and the most wonderful girl while you're at it ;) ) to your god - or whatever you believe - and wish us some luck.
II. Limitations
II.a. Reverse Engineering
Reverse Engineering is not allowed as with nearly any software. If anyone has doubts in the honesty of the code, I will give insight to a trusted organization like a university under circum limitations (for example only one copy, for a limited time, and that has to be removed after the evaluation time has ended).
II.b. Warranty
I tried my very best to make the code of Spybot-S&D as stable as possible, and I give you the warranty that I placed no code to cause intentional harm to your system.
However, removing the threats targetted by Spybot-S&D involves cutting deep into the system sometimes, and I can not guarantee that your system will be running as before (spyware hosts may stop working for example).
I can also give you no warranty that Spybot-S&D will remove every spy on your system, or that it will give you no false positives. For your own verification, the location of the problem is shown with every entry, and if you have any questions remaining, you can visit the support forum for more information.
II.c. Liability
Under no circumstances can you make me liable for any damages you'll do to your system using Spybot-S&D.
II.d. Use of application in whole
Free use is limited to the application in whole. Usage of parts only, meaning for example the database or the plugins, is not permitted.
III. Distribution
Here are some basic rules about distributing Spybot-S&D.
III.a. Private distribution
You may give away single copies of the software as long as you don't modify this license or other files of the archive.
III.b. Mirroring
If you want to mirror Spybot-S&D, feel free to do so as long as you don't modify the original archive. If you want to be kept up to date about major updates, you can subsribe to the mailing list.
Official mirrors need to fulfill the Mirror Policy I created (link will be inserted here).
III.c. Publishing
If you want to publish Spybot-S&D on a book or magazine (or similar) CD, I will gladly allow you to do it, just send me a mail or a prewritten agreement, and I'll give you the permission. And I ask you to send me a free issue for my collection ;)
IV. Privacy
IV.a. Application offline privacy
Even though Spybot-S&D scans your system, it will not search specifically for any personally identifiable information. Everything that is not detected as a possible threat will be ignored. Possible threats will be shown, and - if log options are switched on - written to a local log file.
IV.b. Application online privacy
Spybot-S&D has online functionality in 5 cases:
1. Update: the Update function uses only HTTP requests (like your webbrowser does) to download a info file containing update descriptions (called spybotsd.ini - it won't be deleted, so you can look at it) and the files you choose. No information other than those your browser would also show will be transmitted.
2. News: the News function opens a IE window integrated into Spybot-S&D. This is the same as if you would load the News page on my main homepage ( http://patrick.kolla.de/spybotsd.html ) in Internet Explorer.
3. Bug Report: writing a bug report means sending me an email. This email will contain in it's body the description you enter and the automatically created report (see the settings to modify what it will contain). You can preview this sole contents while you are writing the bug report.
Files listed in the attach box will be send as attachments. The header will contain the information (sender name & address) you've entered in settings.
4. Product info & opt out links: those may often link to dubious pages. You may open them on your own risk, but you should take care to meet some security measures (like firewall, latest IE updates, updated antivirus software) first.
5. Other links: due to the nature of the internet I cannot give you any guarantee for the other links (my own, the support forum, the donation site), but I have put my trust into them and do not believe any harm can come from them.
