You may be signing a contract without knowing it when you buy a computer program, a home appliance or a new car. The companies that make those things are trying to protect their rights to software that is embedded in the computer program or washing machine or automobile, and have fixed it so that you automatically agree to their terms by opening or clicking or starting to use a product.

The problem is that these “click-wrapped” or “shrink-wrapped” agreements are hard to enforce.

State Rep. William R. Savage of Buxton his introduced a bill that would freeze these agreements into law. He admits that the proposed law is controversial, but says the only way to bring the matter up for consideration and to make protective corrections is to introduce it as a bill. Rep. Savage and other supporters contend that software producers need protection of their intellectual property in order to do business in Maine and help bring Maine fully into the new high-tech age.

The proposed law is known as UCITA (pronounced you-SEE-ta), for Uniform Computer Information Transactions Act. It is being promoted throughout the country as part of the Uniform Commercial Code. The code helps states standardize their business regulations. Each state must enact any addition to the code before it becomes part of its own commercial code.

This proposed addition has run into big trouble. The Federal Trade Commission staff has raised serious questions about it. Formal opposition has come from 26 state attorneys general (but not Maine’s), consumer advocacy organizations including Consumers Union, library associations, large software customers, the entertainment industry, magazine and newspaper publishers and the insurance industry. Only two states have enacted the proposed law. Virginia delayed the effective date until July 1, and created a commission to study consumer concerns. Maryland added some consumer protections and managed a partial exemption for the insurance industries. A Maine blue ribbon committee has looked at the 300-page text and asked the Legislature to take no immediate action.

Insurance companies, notably UNUM, use mainframe computers and special software to process claims. They fear UCITA could disrupt their operations. One objection is that the proposed law would allow a software vendor to disable a business’ computer systems by remote control in a dispute over whether the business has violated its software agreement.

Two Silicon Valley software specialists, Cem Kaner and David Pels, tell how UCITA can harm consumers. They say that when you have finished playing a computer game you couldn’t sell it, loan it or even give it to a friend. When book publishers tried to outlaw reselling of books a century ago, Macy’s department store took them to court and eventually won in the U.S. Supreme Court. Another angle is that the new law would prohibit software users from criticizing a product to other users or to newspapers or on the Internet.

And promoters of the law want not only to prevent free copying of software but also to limit their liability if a software glitch causes personal or property damage. A recent Wall Street Journal column noted that computer chips and software are everywhere – in your computer, your cell phone, your toaster, your treadmill, your car and the elevator you ride. The crash of a computer may be annoying, but the crash of an automobile or an elevator, can be catastrophic.

Maine and every other state must study that 300-page proposal and either make changes to protect individuals and companies or else just throw it out.