The worst case for kickstarter is that they fall under both consumer protection laws and investment regulations. There is no question that they fall under cons

The worst case for kickstarter is that they fall under both consumer protection laws and investment regulations. There is no question that they fall under consumer protection laws, products are being advertised and offered, and anyone can "buy" them. I'm sure the FTC already has an open investigation or investigations. If you create a kickstarter project, pull in $1m+, spend it all legitimately and fail to deliver the project, you could end up being named in a civil suit. In the future there will be people who lose their houses over this. Just because you made the project in 2011 doesn't mean you won't get sued in 2014. If you create a kickstarter project, pull in $1m+, spend it all illegitimately, on personal expenses, expect to go to jail. I predict this will happen to at least 1 person. The larger question to me is what liability kickstarter themselves have. Whatever that amount ends up being, I think they can absorb it as a cost of doing business, as long as it remains on the civil side of the law. I like kickstarter. So far I've stuck to using it for pen and paper RPGs, something I know can be delivered on. I think the core concept around kickstarter is going to radically change the world of consumer products. Its just too new to have much of a reputation system yet (but its coming.) May be kickstarter isn't the facebook/google of pre-funding projects. If they look like they are going to take a big hit, be ready to step up. As someone who designs business projects the whole thing sounds like a personal nightmare to me. I know first hand how the simplest of projects on paper can take 5-10x longer than estimated to complete. Add in bells and whistles to make it look attractive to a bunch of people, ouch. Easier said than done applies very much here.