Full Disclosure mailing list archives
Re: GOOD: A legal fix for software flaws?
From: Valdis.Kletnieks () vt edu
Date: Wed, 27 Aug 2003 21:33:29 -0400
On Wed, 27 Aug 2003 19:19:05 -0300, Fabio Gomes de Souza <fabio () gs2 com br> said:
This is an entire crap. Everyone knows that a contract cannot override the law. If the law tells that the manufacturer of a product should be liable for its product's failures, then the manufacturer will be, regardless of any stupid contract the manufacturer and the consumer sign. I cannot, for example, sign a contract which gives me the right to kill you, because the contract is overriding the law.
There's just one little problem with your logic: Unless the law specifically prohibits disclaimer of liability, there's nothing illegal about a clause that does so. And in the best "be careful what you wish for, as you may get it", you might want to go back and re-read clause 11 and 12 of the GPL, Version 2, and ask yourself if *ANY* GPL'ed software would get released if that clause was illegal. If it was in fact illegal to disclaim liability, clause 7 would totally prohibit you from distributing it *AT ALL*. Then there's the issue of mom-n-pop software shops and small consulting firms - they can't hide behind a "we're giving it away for free" clause in the hypothetical law, but they'd be insane to stay in business without software liability insurance. How many insurance companies are offering *THAT* at rates a 2-5 person consulting firm can afford?
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Current thread:
- GOOD: A legal fix for software flaws? dhtml (Aug 26)
- Re: GOOD: A legal fix for software flaws? Valdis . Kletnieks (Aug 27)
- Re: GOOD: A legal fix for software flaws? Fabio Gomes de Souza (Aug 27)
- Re: GOOD: A legal fix for software flaws? Valdis . Kletnieks (Aug 27)
- Re: GOOD: A legal fix for software flaws? Ron DuFresne (Aug 28)
- Re: GOOD: A legal fix for software flaws? Darren Reed (Aug 28)
- Re: GOOD: A legal fix for software flaws? Alexandre Dulaunoy (Aug 29)
- Re: GOOD: A legal fix for software flaws? Jeremiah Cornelius (Aug 29)
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- Re: GOOD: A legal fix for software flaws? Jeremiah Cornelius (Aug 29)
- Re: GOOD: A legal fix for software flaws? Darren Reed (Aug 30)
- Re: GOOD: A legal fix for software flaws? Valdis . Kletnieks (Aug 27)
- <Possible follow-ups>
- RE: GOOD: A legal fix for software flaws? levinson_k (Aug 27)
- Re: GOOD: A legal fix for software flaws? Goncalo Costa (Aug 27)
- RE: GOOD: A legal fix for software flaws? Nick FitzGerald (Aug 27)