FC: Is it time to "hold software makers accountable" for bugs?

From: Declan McCullagh (declanat_private)
Date: Mon Apr 28 2003 - 05:53:29 PDT

  • Next message: Declan McCullagh: "FC: Newsweek on Amazon's Jeff Bezos in Space"

    [I've never really understood calls for software creators to be "held 
    accountable" for programming errors. First, because programming errors can 
    cause unpredictable damage, potentially-liable software firms would respond 
    by raising prices for software. That would impose an additional cost on 
    consumers -- the same folks ostensibly helped by the plan. Second, there's 
    nothing stopping a software company from offering a warranty today. That 
    they don't seems like a reflection of the fact that there's little demand 
    for it, at least at the higher prices that would be necessary to cover 
    costs. Third, I'm leery of what such a law would do to the GPL and similar 
    licenses, which typically say "no warranty at all." Fourth, there already 
    are mechanisms that permit makers of really buggy software to be punished 
    -- reputation, for instance, when customers compare notes or reviewers 
    notice. --Declan]
    
    ---
    
    Date: Mon, 28 Apr 2003 00:27:35 -0400
    To: Declan McCullagh <declanat_private>
    From: Monty Solomon <montyat_private>
    Subject: Spread of Buggy Software Raises Questions
    Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
    
           Spread of Buggy Software Raises Questions
           - Apr 27, 2003 01:23 PM (AP Online)
    
    By PETER SVENSSON AP Technology Writer
    
    NEW YORK (AP) -- When his dishwasher acts up and won't stop beeping,
    Jeff Seigle turns it off and then on, just as he does when his
    computer crashes. Same with the exercise machines at his gym and his
    CD player.
    
    "Now I think of resetting appliances, not just computers," says
    Seigle, a software developer in Vienna, Va.
    
    Malfunctions caused by bizarre and frustrating glitches are becoming
    harder and harder to escape now that software controls everything
    from stoves to cell phones, trains, cars and power plants.
    
    Yet computer code could be a lot more reliable _ if only the industry
    were more willing to make it so, experts say. And many believe it
    would help if software makers were held accountable for sloppy
    programming.
    
    Bad code can be more than costly. Sometimes it's lethal.
    
    _A poorly programmed ground-based altitude warning system was partly
    responsible for the 1997 Korean Air crash in Guam that killed 228
    people.
    
    _Faulty software in anti-lock brakes forced the recall of 39,000
    trucks and tractors and 6,000 school buses in 2000.
    
    _The $165 million Mars Polar Lander probe was destroyed in its final
    descent to the planet in 1999, probably because its software shut the
    engines off 100 feet above the surface.
    
    ...
    
    
    http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=33972514
    
    
    
    
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------
    POLITECH -- Declan McCullagh's politics and technology mailing list
    You may redistribute this message freely if you include this notice.
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------
    To subscribe to Politech: http://www.politechbot.com/info/subscribe.html
    This message is archived at http://www.politechbot.com/
    Declan McCullagh's photographs are at http://www.mccullagh.org/
    Like Politech? Make a donation here: http://www.politechbot.com/donate/
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------
    



    This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Mon Apr 28 2003 - 06:02:50 PDT