zlacker

What's next, people who sell cars aren't responsible for making sure they're safe? People who sell food aren't responsible for whether it gives people food poisoning?

If you release a product then at the minimum it's your responsibility to make sure it's not going to harm others. If you can't do this then you shouldn't be releasing open source software.

Adding a disclaimer at the bottom doesn't absolve you of gross negligence.

>>Alex39+(OP)
"Sell" is a pretty important word there. There are laws and regulations for those, and neither comes with an explicit license saying something like "disclaims all warranties and conditions, express and implied, including warranties or conditions of title and non-infringement, and implied warranties or conditions of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose."

>>Alex39+(OP)
Well, the license specifically says they aren't responsible for negligence and to use the software you have to abide by the license so...

>>lvh+d1
> neither comes with an explicit license saying something like "disclaims all warranties and conditions, express and implied, including warranties or conditions of title and non-infringement, and implied warranties or conditions of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose."

Because they obviously would be not legally binding. Again, you can't absolve yourself of gross negligence any more than you can sell yourself into slavery. And legally speaking, selling something almost always includes giving that thing away for free. (Except for in a few cases where gifts are specifically exempted, like for some low-level drug crimes at the state level.)

>>Alex39+(OP)
Companies don't care about making products safe until government steps in and forces them to. Unsafe food was not "next", it was the norm until Upton Sinclair wrote The Jungle. Unsafe cars are not "next", they were the norm; seatbelts were first recommended by a surgeon in 1930 who went on to form the Automobile Safety League of America, they weren't mandatory until at least 30 years later with seat belt legislation [1], or airbags legislation in 1998 [2].

Remember .. cigarettes? Arsenic Wallpaper and cloth[3]? Radium cosmetics [4]? Toasty warm Radium blankets[5]? Shoe fitting x-ray fluouroscopes[6]? Lead water pipes[7]? Sugar? Guns? non-fire resistant household furniture? Dinitrophenol[8]? Asbestos? Leaded petrol? CFCs? Unsafe buildings? Bisphenol-A? BSE related beef? 3D printers and their carcinogenic particle side effects[9]? Trans fats[10]?

and then why we have things like the CE marking safety standard in Europe. On and on, products are harmful by default until government steps in and forces manufacturers to make them safe(r). The free market cares about profit, not people.

What's next, people who make products are responsible for making them safe?

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seat_belt_legislation

[2] https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/federal-legislat...

[3] https://hyperallergic.com/329747/death-by-wallpaper-alluring...

[4] https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/objects-of-intrigue-lo...

[5] https://www.sciencephoto.com/media/364732/view/radium-blanke...

[6] https://gizmodo.com/the-insane-cancer-machines-that-used-to-...

[7] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2509614/

[8] https://www.theguardian.com/science/the-h-word/2014/feb/06/d...

[9] http://blog.ichibanelectronic.com/3d-printers/3d-printers-ca...

[10] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trans_fat#Public_response_and_...