> That drives their costs (and prices) up. That is not a bad thing. Today all these shaky companies exist because they can take all the profit and externalize

> That drives their costs (and prices) up. That is not a bad thing. Today all these shaky companies exist because they can take all the profit and externalize all the downsides, laughing all the way to the bank. If they were made liable, one of two things might happen, both of which are positive outcomes. One, they might upgrade their engineering and quality processes to the point where they can guarantee they won't be the root cause for taking down large parts of the industry. Sure it'll cost more but if they can do it and still make a profit (just less), all is well. Two, maybe it simply can't be profitable to build these root backdoor systems with enough layers of safety, in which case the companies will disappear. This is also good; if the product can't be safe, it should not exist.