4 ms·

There are a variety of laws that would apply here, and doing what they did, if done intentionally, is almost certainly cause for civil liability. They are not

There are a variety of laws that would apply here, and doing what they did, if done intentionally, is almost certainly cause for civil liability. They are not allowed self-help in the form of destroying other pieces of hardware. If they have a problem with counterfeit chips, the solution is customs/legal process/etc If they aren't happy with what that buys them, they should be pushing for legal change.

ja27 12y ago
It's quite possibly a violation of U.S. Code 1030(a)(5)(A), a federal felony: (5) (A) [Whoever] knowingly causes the transmission of a program, information, code, or command, and as a result of such conduct, intentionally causes damage without authorization, to a protected computer; Now "protected computer" and the [ab]use of the Interstate Commerce Clause mean that the device with the FTDI would likely need to be connected to a network for this to apply. Plus I think they still need to show $5,000+ in damage, but it wouldn't be hard to reach that if the driver wrecked a prototype and delayed a product.
- markrages 12y ago
  FTDI is not a US company.
  - akgerber 12y ago
    But Future Technology Devices International Limited (USA) is. http://www.ftdichip.com/FTContact.htm http://www.ftdichip.com/FTContact.htm
  - ja27 12y ago
    Neither was Megaupload.
- nitrogen 12y ago
  Was the driver pushed out by Windows Update from WHQL? That's via a network.