[LINK] Identity theft virus infects 10,000 computers

[Frank O'Connor]

Unfortunately true in the real world of normal product.

That said ... there is no contractual liability if a product/code or 
whatever is given away for free - due to failure of consideration.

As for other liability ... well the software industry (OSS, 
commercial, free or whatever) has been getting away with it for years 
with their various EULA's - which essentially go along the lines of 
"You take this product at your own risk and we won't be responsible 
for anything."

The US has made some changes ... as part of their Homeland Security 
legislation ... which indicates that software producers will be held 
liable for the more egregious security breaches. But other than that 
... the basic EULA has not been seriously tested.

					Regards,

At 3:46 PM +1000 on 15/8/06 you wrote:
>Craig Sanders [cas at taz.net.au] wrote:
>>  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.
>
>this is false. I was told by a lawyer that this is not the case.
>you can be liable for stuff you give away for free. otherwise someone
>could provide you with a free service like for example cleaning your
>carpets, which completely damages them and you would have no come back.
>
>people cant waive all responsibility just by giving stuff away.
>
>Vic
>
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