[LINK] Identity theft virus infects 10,000 computers

[Craig Sanders]

On Sun, Aug 13, 2006 at 06:07:25AM +1000, Rick Welykochy wrote:
> I just thought of something in this regard. How would one hold the
> often multiple and disconnected creators of a FOSS product to account
> for their security blunders?  It is easy enough to target and take
> action against a particular software company. Much harder to target
> individuals across multiple jurisdictions in multiple countries.
>
> As well, I suppose that legislation that exposes software creators to
> such liability would have a chilling effect on open source (and other)
> software. e.g. if I contribute some changes to the Firefox browser and
> this change results the identity theft of 10,000 individuals, I'd be
> toast.

why should you (or any free software developer) be liable for the use
that people make of software that you (or they) make freely available?
there is no contract between you - there can't be, as a contract
*requires* value to be exchanged by all parties.

a user of free software receives value, but the developer does not.  no
contract.

furthermore, a gift (to the world, or to an individual) is not commerce,
it is not trade - so it's hard to see how it could possibly be covered
by trade practices type legislation.

craig

-- 
craig sanders <cas at taz.net.au>           (part time cyborg)