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> They bought (presumably for money) a product, and expect that product to keep working as long as they need it to! This depents on the terms of the contract.
by Archelaos 10mo ago
> They bought (presumably for money) a product, and expect that product to keep working as long as they need it to!
This depents on the terms of the contract. Typically, termination of service is covered in a license. If the license terms are okay in the respective jurisdiction, there is no fundamental ethical obligation to run a server beyond that. There might exist specific cases where it would be inappropriate to follow the terms by the letter, but that also has its limits.
- ryandrake 10mo agoContract terms usually define legal obligations, not ethical obligations. They create duties parties must perform or face legal consequences--they don't speak to what those parties should do ethically.
- Archelaos 10mo agoFollowing legal obligations is an important part of ethics. The law has also the purpose to relieving the individual of the burden of complex ethical considerations. This is the general situation, especially in a democracy under the rule of law. There are, of course, exceptions and disagreement about specific regulations. But as long as you have the law on your side is a very strong indicator that what you are doing is also ethical more or less okay. It is very hard to say that one person is far off ethically, if two people agreed on something and the terms of their agreement are without doubt legally correct.
- ryandrake 10mo agoI appreciate your viewpoint, even though mine is the exact opposite!
- Paracompact 10mo agoMost systemic evil in the modern world is done legally, IMO. There is everything legal but nothing ethical about the way John Deere screws farmers over, how big tech sells your data, how Amazon creates a consumerist race to the bottom, how United Healthcare denies you coverage capriciously, etc.