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A contractor in the UK put a time-lock in the software he was contracted to write because he was concerned about non-payment. He didn't get paid and the softwa
by masfuerte 3y ago
A contractor in the UK put a time-lock in the software he was contracted to write because he was concerned about non-payment. He didn't get paid and the software duly stopped working. He was successfully prosecuted under the Computer Misuse Act. He had some justification (unlike the Polish train manufacturer) but it didn't help him avoid prosecution. I've no idea what the law in Poland says.
- db48x 3y agoThat’s pretty ridiculous.
- account42 3y agoWhy? Tolerating that kind of behavior is what is ridiculous. If anything, us software developers should be held liable for more of the damages that we cause.
- db48x 3y agoSo it’s ok when a megacorp like Microsoft does it, but if an individual developer does it then it’s a crime? When you fail to pay for Windows, it turns off various features, does it not? When you stop paying for your MMO, it stops letting you play the game, right? So if I am contracted to develop some accounting software and they fail to pay me, why shouldn’t it stop working? This is why it would only be a contract dispute; they will argue that the contract did not state up front that if they failed to pay the developer that the software wouldn’t work. The MMO certainly has pages and pages of legalese that everyone knows lets the MMO’s developer get away with anything they want. The independent contractor needs explicit language in their contract to specify exactly what will happen if they aren’t paid on time. That should include late fees, but probably also software that refuses to work until someone fills out a credit card payment form.