At a fundamental level the HTTP protocol is a negotiation, where the client asks (on behalf of the user) for a file from a server, and the server decides (on behalf of the site owner) if it sends the file. HTTP provides plenty of error codes to deny that request. 403 or 451 come to mind. The server sending the file implies that it is OK with my use of the file.

If the server sends a file that's on the server. A license agreement hosted on a server that needs to be accessed in order to read it doesn't change that. Reminds me of Hitchhiker's Guide:

>“But the plans were on display…”

>“On display? I eventually had to go down to the cellar to find them.”

>“That’s the display department.”

>“With a flashlight.”

>“Ah, well, the lights had probably gone.”

>“So had the stairs.”

>“But look, you found the notice, didn’t you?”

>“Yes,” said Arthur, “yes I did. It was on display in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying ‘Beware of the Leopard.”