Can we please not get the government ( who's gov ) involved. I fully agree that it will not only not help, but will make some things worse. This is why we can't have nice things.
On Tuesday, October 4, 2016, Anne Mitchell <amitch...@isipp.com> wrote: > (Interesting and inarguably well-intentioned, and possibly even sound, > idea snipped, but noted.) > > There are a handful of reasons that this will never happen (well, I'm 98% > certain it will never happen, nothing is every 100% sure when it comes to > the law, and legislation)... among them the manufacturer's lobby is much > more well-girded than is the 'home internet security' lobby; the > cyber-security concerns of the Federal government are focussed on other > things (whether they should be or not, they are); and for the most part > legislators are still fairly unsavvy about tech in general, and these > things make their eyes glaze over. > > That said, there are already tort (negligence, etc.) laws and precedents > under which such manufacturers can be sued, along with things like breach > of contract between the manufacturer and consumer, and breach of implied > warranty of fitness for a particular purpose and breach of implied warranty > of merchantability. > > A couple of winning lawsuits against manufacturers under these laws and > theories - which judges *already understand* - is, I think, not only a more > likely, but a much faster, route to industry reform. > > All that said, much of this faces the same issues that spam lawsuits faced > - the people who care the most about it are not the ones who can afford to > finance such lawsuits. > > Anne > > Anne P. Mitchell, > Attorney at Law > Legislative Consultant > CEO/President, Institute for Social Internet Public Policy > Member, Cal. Bar Cyberspace Law Committee > Member, Colorado Cyber Committee > Member, Asilomar Microcomputer Workshop Committee > Author: Section 6 of the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 (the Federal anti-spam law) > Ret. Professor of Law, Lincoln Law School of San Jose > Ret. Chair, Asilomar Microcomputer Workshop