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<blockquote data-quote="ForgottenSeer 98186" data-source="post: 1026986">There have already been such cases. Software that controlled X-ray machines caused the equipment to &quot;dose&quot; the patient with a lethal level of radiation.With regard to civil cases involving software and security, the law is far behind the technology. Anyway, the system of regulations and laws will never hold a software publisher liable for what a user does or does not do under general circumstances. Plaintiffs have been trying for decades to place blame and culpability onto software and device manufacturers. Most all that effort is for naught.Interestingly, because of proximity of Carnegie Mellon and all the expertise in that region - where Jen gave this presentation&nbsp; - the greatest number of software legal cases at the federal level are brought before The United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania. Lots of case law and legal precedents (stare decisis) established in the legal forums there.The law as it applies to software is a fascinating subject matter.&quot;sued for buggy software&quot;Many have tried. Nobody has succeeded, at least not in the context that you are referring to. Software is governed by product and consumer protections laws. It is virtually impossible to prove software publisher tort (contracts) liability for bugs - even ones that cause financial losses. Most importantly, there is no willingness on the part of state and federal lawmakers to make software publishers assume responsibility and liability. If they did do that, then they would basically regulate the software out of existence.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="ForgottenSeer 98186, post: 1026986"] There have already been such cases. Software that controlled X-ray machines caused the equipment to "dose" the patient with a lethal level of radiation. With regard to civil cases involving software and security, the law is far behind the technology. Anyway, the system of regulations and laws will never hold a software publisher liable for what a user does or does not do under general circumstances. Plaintiffs have been trying for decades to place blame and culpability onto software and device manufacturers. Most all that effort is for naught. Interestingly, because of proximity of Carnegie Mellon and all the expertise in that region - where Jen gave this presentation - the greatest number of software legal cases at the federal level are brought before The United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania. Lots of case law and legal precedents (stare decisis) established in the legal forums there. The law as it applies to software is a fascinating subject matter. "sued for buggy software" Many have tried. Nobody has succeeded, at least not in the context that you are referring to. Software is governed by product and consumer protections laws. It is virtually impossible to prove software publisher tort (contracts) liability for bugs - even ones that cause financial losses. Most importantly, there is no willingness on the part of state and federal lawmakers to make software publishers assume responsibility and liability. If they did do that, then they would basically regulate the software out of existence. [/QUOTE]

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