full-disclosure - GOOD: A legal fix for software flaws?

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From: nick at virus-l.demon.co.uk (Nick FitzGerald)
Subject: GOOD: A legal fix for software flaws?

levinson_k@...pammed.com wrote:

<<snip good stuff>>
> Would this kind of legal liability for software manufacturers have a
> chilling effect towards small mom and pop software shops?  Would it halt
> smaller companies like Foundstone and Eeye.com from writing and releasing
> freeware utilities?  Would OpenBSD, Linux distros, etc. also be sued? 
> Would end users like you or me start being sued for becoming infected? 
> Can you know for sure what would happen if this came to pass?  Targeting
> Microsoft may sound attractive to some, but this kind of legislation could
> make every software author a target, while not necessarily doing anything
> to get rid of security issues like worms.

So, at least allow the liability up to the (reatail) cost of 
"licensing" ("purchasing", etc) of the faulty software.

That way commercial developers will have a greater incentive to "do the 
right thing" by their customers than they clearly do now.  Or they will 
shut up shop or go freeware (where other incentives should favour the 
open-source over closed source "solutions" -- with open source at least 
you can have a hope of getting old/abandoned/etc code fixed).

Regards,

Nick FitzGerald