What? I agreed to donate a kidney?! Mmmmm...Maybe!

It happens to all of us really, it does! We are busy trying to conquer the next Mount Everest using our tested, tried and proven tools and skills when some new technology or software comes along that promises some Utopian nirvana and demands our attention. So, distracted from our climb, we stop to take a look at this new Shiny Object, listen to some high-pressure sales person pitch the benefits of this new wonder, all the while reading from a script filled with buzzwords and industry jargon that the sales person had not heard of before now, agree to watch some canned demo conducted by someone who knows more about nuclear fission than she does about the title and settlement business and, Voila! You are ready to sign or agree or “click to agree” or something and not really knowing to just what you are agreeing.

Check this out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTbqNkjGg00

You, like most of us including me, probably just “agreed” to the terms and conditions when we installed MS Office, Adobe Reader, Quickbooks, etc. But, unlike these packages which have 10’s of millions to 100’s of millions subscribers, purveyors of title and escrow software have, at best, a few thousand subscribers. If there are any shenanigans hiding in the “terms and conditions” of the license agreements for those popular programs, the probability that they would be found out is quite high. With narrow-focused, niche-based programs, not so much. Complicating this issue for title and settlement agents is the fact that they handle gobbs of non-public personal information which must be kept private. Moreover, these same title and settlement agents have published privacy policies essentially guaranteeing to keep that data safe and secure. Suppose that you just “clicked to agree” to terms and conditions that might expose your and your clients’ data to whatever?

So, your homework assignment this week is to pull out a copy of your license agreement for your title and settlement software package and see if it contains language similar to:

This License Agreement (this "Agreement") is entered into as of the date you click I Agree by and between Shiny Object Title Software (“SOTS”) and you. By clicking I Agree or by accessing and using the SOTS Software, you agree to be bound by this Agreement.

If you find that it does, you might want to carefully read the rest of the agreement, including attachments, exhibits and addenda, to be sure there is no language that could cost you a kidney or compromise the security and integrity of your and your client’s data.

If your agreement doesn’t contain language such as above, it wouldn’t be a waste of time to read or re- read your software agreement just in case. You might sleep better if you do.