---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Fri, 18 Jan 2002 12:11:55 -0800 (PST) From: Declan McCullagh <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: FC: Rep. Boucher: End liability protection for software firms
---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Wed, 16 Jan 2002 16:35:33 -0500 From: Henry Huang <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Boucher: End Liability Protection for Software Makers And so, the "only fix it if people find out about it" mentality of the software industry FINALLY begins to reap bad fruit, after decades of neglect. A panel of experts assembled by the National Academy of Sciences has recommended that the special exemptions from product liability lawsuits given to software makers should be taken away. Rep. Rick Boucher (D-VA), in particular, is quoted as saying: "The producers of software should be responsible for any flaws that the software contains." As much as everyone would like to see Microsoft sued into the ground, it ain't gonna happen. A much more likely scenario is that smaller companies and producers of Open Source will quickly find themselves at the end of a sharp lawsuit -- clearing the way for companies who can afford to pay out lawsuits to continue as they are. Oh, the irony. http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-011402micro.story -- Additionally, Bruce Scheiner has some interesting comments to make about Microsoft's attitude towards security, and how censoring bug information hurts far more than it helps. http://www.counterpane.com/crypto-gram-0201.html -H ------------------------------------------------------------------------- POLITECH -- Declan McCullagh's politics and technology mailing list You may redistribute this message freely if you include this notice. Declan McCullagh's photographs are at http://www.mccullagh.org/ To subscribe to Politech: http://www.politechbot.com/info/subscribe.html This message is archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Events: Congreso Nacional de Periodismo Digital in Huesca, Spain from Jan. 17-18 (http://www.congresoperiodismo.com) and the Second International Conference on Web-Management in Diplomacy in Malta from Feb. 1-3. (http://www.diplomacy.edu/Web/conference2/) -------------------------------------------------------------------------
