5 ms·

And per the MIT license, he offers it “WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND (…) INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO (…) FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE”

• not2b 5y ago
  That doesn't give him the right to commit sabotage. If as the developer of a FOSS program I deliberately introduce something that will harm users, a "no warranty" clause won't protect me from the consequences. The guy knew full well how npm worked, and new full well that he was deliberately breaking lots of sites. "No warranty" just means he isn't liable for accidents.
  • betwixthewires 5y ago
    No warranty means he isn't liable for any behavior of the software at all. You don't have to like it but it is true.
    • akersten 5y ago
      Of all the awful legal takes I've seen on this site, yours is an early contender for best of 2022. > No warranty means he isn't liable for any behavior of the software at all. Somebody should tell all those computer virus authors, all they had to do was not include a warranty, and they're untouchable!
      • ddtaylor 5y ago
        Those seem like different things since a computer virus "user" never consents to or accepts the license, whereas someone importing the library into their package.json has.
        • saltminer 5y ago
          Eh, just write in the EULA exactly what your virus will do and that they have no warranty, bundle it as an add-on a la toolbar bundling in the 00s, and bam, you've got the user's consent to do anything!
      • betwixthewires 5y ago
        You can pretend there's no difference between this and a computer virus, but there clearly is. The users of this software pull it, explicitly, voluntarily. The author says it doesn't serve any particular purpose, and in using it you understand that. the software itself did nothing malicious, it just stopped working. It's not the same thing as slapping a license on a computer virus and forcibly foisting it onto an unwitting victim. It's not naive legalese loophole workaround thinking. When you choose to use the software you agree to abide by the license, which includes no promise of utility whatsoever.
    • heartbreak 5y ago
      He is responsible for his own behavior, and harming with intent is not a liability that can be waived in the US. This is literally first week of Contracts course material in law school.
      • betwixthewires 5y ago
        But there was no harm or no intent to harm, the software just stopped working. Just because you rely on someone's work doesn't mean you can expect it to continue forever.
    • viro 5y ago
      no it does not mean you can legally change your software to malware.
      • ddtaylor 5y ago
        I think it's disingenuous to label it as "malware".
        • viro 5y ago
          Nah its not. It crashes hoobs and the ring plugin for homebridge. And probably a lot of other software.
          • superkuh 5y ago
            Modern JS crashes my older browsers too. It doesn't mean it's the JS author's fault for using code my system can't handle.
            • viro 5y ago
              The intent is extremely important to the word malware. the intent WAS malicious.
              • betwixthewires 5y ago
                It was malicious about as much as flash no longer working, or nest thermostats.