Rick Welykochy <rick@praxis.com.au>:
>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.
...
>Instead of Microsoft simply being found liable for producing a
>defective product (that's *ONE* company to fix *ONE BIG PROBLEM*),
>the USA is considering making *MILLIONS* of consumers of the
>defective product liable for installing fixes to solve the
>defects.
The problem is that, under the product liability laws of Australia
and most other countries, software is not a product.
To the best of my knowledge, this issue was last canvassed (by the
Clth Law Reform Commission) as long ago as, would you believe, 13
years ago!!!!
See my analysis of the issues in late 1988:
Who Is Liable for Software Errors?
Proposed New Product Liability Law in Australia
http://www.anu.edu.au/people/Roger.Clarke/SOS/PaperLiaby.html
That's why I reckon the civil tort of negligence, and the law of
criminal negligence, are better bets.
--
Roger Clarke http://www.anu.edu.au/people/Roger.Clarke/
Xamax Consultancy Pty Ltd, 78 Sidaway St, Chapman ACT 2611 AUSTRALIA
Tel: +61 2 6288 1472, and 6288 6916
mailto:Roger.Clarke@xamax.com.au http://www.xamax.com.au/
Visiting Fellow Department of Computer Science
The Australian National University Canberra ACT 0200 AUSTRALIA
Information Sciences Building Room 211 Tel: +61 2 6125 3666
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