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If I build an airbag in my garage, and Honda shows up tomorrow and puts it in their car, and it fails because I don't know how to make good airbags, I would not

by gipp 9y ago

If I build an airbag in my garage, and Honda shows up tomorrow and puts it in their car, and it fails because I don't know how to make good airbags, I would not be legally liable for those failures. Honda, however, would be. Your analogy does not hold up. You're reading some _very_ specific things into what is a very general statement. I get why you'd be upset if she was attacking the things you say she is, but she is emphatically not doing that. Every single paragraph in the article is about how Equifax should be liable for their software, which includes liability for the decision to use types of open-source software.

danjoc 9y ago
>If I build an airbag in my garage, and Honda shows up tomorrow and puts it in their car, and it fails because I don't know how to make good airbags, I would not be legally liable for those failures. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Takata_Corporation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Takata_Corporation
- gipp 9y ago
  If they have liability, it is assumed as part of their supplier contract with Honda. Open source software does not have this, and nowhere does the author suggest that should be the case -- they _certainly_ do not suggest such an assumption be implied without a license, or forced to be in all OSS licenses, which would be the only way your complaint makes sense.
  - danjoc 9y ago
    >Open source software does not have this, and nowhere does the author suggest that should be the case "the underlying reason is political, and it’s pretty simple: Big corporations have poured large amounts of money into our political system, helping to create a regulatory environment in which consumers shoulder more and more of the risk, and companies less and less." The author is suggesting a political solution. Regulation. Laws that say "Your open source license can't exempt you from a, b, c, d." You could then exempt yourself from lawsuit in your open source license, but that will be automatically void, like a non-compete clause in a California employment contract. Struts would be sued for the breach in her imagined world.

by gipp 9y ago

danjoc 9y ago

>If I build an airbag in my garage, and Honda shows up tomorrow and puts it in their car, and it fails because I don't know how to make good airbags, I would not be legally liable for those failures. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Takata_Corporation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Takata_Corporation

gipp 9y ago
If they have liability, it is assumed as part of their supplier contract with Honda. Open source software does not have this, and nowhere does the author suggest that should be the case -- they _certainly_ do not suggest such an assumption be implied without a license, or forced to be in all OSS licenses, which would be the only way your complaint makes sense.
- danjoc 9y ago
  >Open source software does not have this, and nowhere does the author suggest that should be the case "the underlying reason is political, and it’s pretty simple: Big corporations have poured large amounts of money into our political system, helping to create a regulatory environment in which consumers shoulder more and more of the risk, and companies less and less." The author is suggesting a political solution. Regulation. Laws that say "Your open source license can't exempt you from a, b, c, d." You could then exempt yourself from lawsuit in your open source license, but that will be automatically void, like a non-compete clause in a California employment contract. Struts would be sued for the breach in her imagined world.