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Hypothetical scenario: You buy a piece of software, marketed to photographers for photo editing. Nowhere in the manuals or license agreements does it specify a
by friendzis 9mo ago
Hypothetical scenario:
You buy a piece of software, marketed to photographers for photo editing. Nowhere in the manuals or license agreements does it specify anything else. Yet the software also secretly joins a botnet and participates in coordinated attacks.
Question: are you on the hook for cyber-crimes?
- Hizonner 9mo agoYou didn't have a reasonable expectation that it would, or even might, do that. I guess you could say that you didn't have a reasonable expectation that a bot could accept a license, but you're on a lot shakier ground there...
- NegativeK 9mo agoWould a general person in your situation know that it's doing criminal things? If not, then you're not on the hook - the person who wrote the secret code is. You can't sit back and go "lalalala" to some tool (AI, photo software, whatever) doing illegal things when you know about it. But you also aren't on the hook for someone else's secret actions that are unreasonable for you to know about. IANAL.
- otterley 9mo agoIAAL (not legal advice) and your conclusion is generally correct. "Willful disregard" frequently nullifies potential defenses to liability.
- qingcharles 9mo agoUsually (but not always) there is a knowing element to criminal offenses.