On Wed, Aug 01, 2001 at 09:54:49AM +1000, Rick Welykochy wrote:
> On Wed, 1 Aug 2001, Grant Bayley wrote:
>
> > >From Wired:
> > http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,45692,00.html
> [SNIP]
> > But that may be changing. Federal rules that will make it obligatory for
> > specific sectors to download virus patches are already here, and more are
> > coming.
>
> Let me see now ...
>
> 1. Ford Motor Co. produces a car with a defect. The defect turns out
> be a possible source of injury. The result: Ford is *legally liable*
> to recall and fix said vehicles.
>
> 2. Johnson & Johnson produce defective silicon breast implants. Even
> though J&J rigorously defends itself against a class action, it
> is found guilty of its breach of care to its customers and pays
> out $100's of millions in damages.
>
> 3. There are countless further examples of the *company or agency*
> that produces the faulty product being culpible. As a matter of
> fact, I'm hard pressed to find an example where the *customer*
> who uses a faulty product is found to be liable to take any actions
> of any sort.
While I kind of agree with your argument about faulty products and
software being included in this category, your examples are all related
to safety (as are most product recalls). They are therefore covered by
safety regulations (or at least the companies that supply them public
liability insurance), rather than the companies doing this out of the
goodness of their hearts.
Most commodity software comes with a license that says it's not to be
used in situations (medical, air, nuclear) where safety is critical -
so it's seen as legitimate to claim 'caveat emptor'.
I'm not sure that a public liability claim would stand up in this
situation unless the company is writing software for medical equipment
(for example).
rik.
--
~ Specialists in IT Infrastructure ~
* Managed Services * Consulting * Product Supply & Support *
Rik Harris The Fulcrum Group of Companies
Chief Technology Officer Level 8, 628 Bourke Street
ph: +61-3-8601-6100 Melbourne VIC 3000
fx: +61-3-8601-6199 Australia
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