4 ms·
Can those people who wash your windshield at red lights actually make you pay? If your neighbor leaves their door unlocked while they’re at work, can you go ch
by rafram 2y ago
Can those people who wash your windshield at red lights actually make you pay?
If your neighbor leaves their door unlocked while they’re at work, can you go change the locks (for their safety!) and bill them for your time?
No, of course not. Why would you be able to bill for a service that you weren’t asked to provide?
- bmicraft 2y agoWell, in a case such as this: because they're putting other people's data/money at risk and should have payed somebody to discover flaws like this in the first place. It's not the law but maybe it should be.
- rafram 2y agoAnd if you can’t see out of your dirty windshield, you could cause an accident. If your neighbor’s door is unlocked all day, someone could break in and steal their TV. I mean, why should I even need to apply for any job? McDonald’s always needs workers; do you think they’ll mind if I walk into the kitchen, start flipping burgers, and then name my hourly rate at the end of the day?
- bmicraft 2y agoWe were talking about "reasonable", which your reply seems to miss completely. Reasonable can mean a lot of things, including a predefined rate or a fixed way to calculate compensation owed.
- giancarlostoro 2y agoLegal extortion you way?
- the8472 2y agoWell, the users of the system should be able to recoup some of their costs for services (security) not rendered and then pay the researcher for that. In a more well-coordinated society none of this would happen because the company would have avoided the predictable outcome by hiring a security person in the first place.
- randysalami 2y agoThey can smash your window
- itishappy 2y agoNot legally.
- cperciva 2y agoWhy would you be able to bill for a service that you weren’t asked to provide? This can happen; if you're found unconscious and taken to the hospital, you can be billed for medical care which you didn't ask for, based on the doctrine of presumed consent. One could imagine a parallel -- a critical emergency where it's impossible to communicate but it's reasonable to presume that they would want to have the issue fixed if they were aware. I don't think it necessarily applies here, but it's at least possible that another case could meet that bar.
- TZubiri 2y agoAdditionally in this case the company has a bug bounty policy / program, so it isn't quite unsolicited.
- TZubiri 2y agoDetails matter, and the examples you came up with are ridiculously off base. In this case there was a bug bounty program, so it is not as unsolicited as someone washing your windshield at a stoplight. Secondly this is not a personal residence, thirdly the property was never broken into by the researcher (nor locks changed), finally there's is fiduciary duty from the company to their clients/users. Since you are keen on hypothetical scenarios, let me present to you a more similar scenario. A school is situated near an old tree in a nearby lot that has a risk of falling, either on the school or on the public sidewalk, the researcher notices it, rents the nearby lot and safely chops down the tree. Then sends a bill to the school for chopping down the tree. It is important to note that I didn't ask the question in order to get the opinion of strangers on what should happen based on personal ethics, rather I asked the question in case someone knowledgeable about the law knew the actual answer as to what the courts rule.