3 ms·

Wonder if anything similar could have happened to the author of cURL had he not been denied boarding on a US flight - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14643

by 0x0 9y ago

Wonder if anything similar could have happened to the author of cURL had he not been denied boarding on a US flight - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14643467 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14643467

masklinn 9y ago
Probably not? Daniel Stenberg is a network protocols geek and software author, not a security researcher.
- jacquesm 9y ago
  Yes, but his software has wide applications including being used in DDOS attacks, downloading copyrighted content and so on. I find it hard to get my head wrapped around the argument that gun manufacturers are somehow exempt from being at least at some level involved in the crimes perpetrated with the stuff they make but that for software we're going to have a completely different standard where simply making something and selling it rather than using it is the bar to clear. Especially since so much software is 'dual use'.
  - masklinn 9y ago
    > Yes, but his software has wide applications including being used in DDOS attacks, downloading copyrighted content and so on. I guess that's technically true, but practically no more so than the PSF or the GCC team. > I find it hard to get my head wrapped around the argument that gun manufacturers are somehow exempt from being at least at some level involved in the crimes perpetrated with the stuff they make but that for software we're going to have a completely different standard where simply making something and selling it rather than using it is the bar to clear. There isn't really any argument, just politics (lobbying groups/companies/whatever) and familiarity (of lawmakers and judges, which is why people like Judge Posner are so important to our field).
- 0x0 9y ago
  Lots of people seem to be confused about curl's role in other systems: https://daniel.haxx.se/blog/2016/11/14/i-have-toyota-corola/ https://daniel.haxx.se/blog/2016/11/14/i-have-toyota-corola/ Maybe a similar confusion caused his boarding to be denied - but what if this is a case of similar confusion acted upon after the person arrived in the US? Or what if the cURL author was allowed to enter the US but whatever cause for denying him was flagged before he was to leave for home?

by 0x0 9y ago

masklinn 9y ago

Probably not? Daniel Stenberg is a network protocols geek and software author, not a security researcher.

jacquesm 9y ago
Yes, but his software has wide applications including being used in DDOS attacks, downloading copyrighted content and so on. I find it hard to get my head wrapped around the argument that gun manufacturers are somehow exempt from being at least at some level involved in the crimes perpetrated with the stuff they make but that for software we're going to have a completely different standard where simply making something and selling it rather than using it is the bar to clear. Especially since so much software is 'dual use'.
- masklinn 9y ago
  > Yes, but his software has wide applications including being used in DDOS attacks, downloading copyrighted content and so on. I guess that's technically true, but practically no more so than the PSF or the GCC team. > I find it hard to get my head wrapped around the argument that gun manufacturers are somehow exempt from being at least at some level involved in the crimes perpetrated with the stuff they make but that for software we're going to have a completely different standard where simply making something and selling it rather than using it is the bar to clear. There isn't really any argument, just politics (lobbying groups/companies/whatever) and familiarity (of lawmakers and judges, which is why people like Judge Posner are so important to our field).
0x0 9y ago
Lots of people seem to be confused about curl's role in other systems: https://daniel.haxx.se/blog/2016/11/14/i-have-toyota-corola/ https://daniel.haxx.se/blog/2016/11/14/i-have-toyota-corola/ Maybe a similar confusion caused his boarding to be denied - but what if this is a case of similar confusion acted upon after the person arrived in the US? Or what if the cURL author was allowed to enter the US but whatever cause for denying him was flagged before he was to leave for home?