[Cross-posted] [Interesting article. Of course, it begs the question of what happens in the case of free software if vendors become liable for flaws in their software. I'd think that a simple `if you give the source away you are not liable' clause would cover that part of it. Comments?]
A legal fix for software flaws? By Declan McCullagh Staff Writer, CNET News.com August 26, 2003, 4:00 AM PT Thomas Leavitt, a system administrator and veteran of three Silicon Valley start-ups, has dealt with computer worms and viruses before. But the severity of last week's Sobig.F and MSBlast.D attacks got him thinking harder than ever about a cure. Finding and punishing their anonymous authors would be a start. But shouldn't Microsoft also be partly to blame? "Civil engineers very rarely make a mistake, and when they do it's a career-ending one," Leavitt said. "The software we're using at this point has the potential to create damage as bad or worse." Microsoft's security failings may draw repeated beatings in the court of public opinion, but they will likely never be tested in a court of law unless current product liability statutes are rewritten, legal experts agree. Problems with physical products routinely yield multimillion-dollar verdicts and settlements in litigation-happy America. But software vendors are largely protected from product defect claims thanks to unusual exemptions enshrined in typical software licenses--boilerplate known in the industry as End User License Agreements (EULAs) or "shrink-wrap" licenses, so called because they're often printed inside the shrink-wrapped box containing the product or incorporated into the software itself. Full article at: http://news.com.com/2100-1002_3-5067873.html?tag=fd_lede2_hed -- Raju -- Raj Mathur [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://kandalaya.org/ GPG: 78D4 FC67 367F 40E2 0DD5 0FEF C968 D0EF CC68 D17F It is the mind that moves _______________________________________________ ilugd mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://frodo.hserus.net/mailman/listinfo/ilugd
