Software Design

Software Companies Should

NOT Be Held Responsible for Damages Due to Buggy Software

What are ‘Damages?’ Importance of differentiating between

Physical Damages and Monetary Damages

vs.

Complexity of Code and the Software Environment Mars Pathfinder = $150,000,000 and 150,000 lines of

code Microsoft Word = 2,000,000 lines of code “Quite often, software systems are assembled using

multiple components, which may have been developed by different groups of people, perhaps in different organizations, using different development and testing methodologies.”

Software does not exist in a vacuum – Microsoft liable for the failure of an Epson printer driver?

Idealistic But Not Realistic “It’s probably currently impossible to build perfect programs, to

guarantee that a given piece of software has no defects at all.” – Mark Minasi, author of Why Software Companies Put Out Faulty Products, How They Can Hurt You, and What You Can Do About It

“It is just impracticable to design or test for everything.” – Bruce Schneier, author of Secrets and Lies: Digital Security in a Networked World

64 percent of software developers are not confident that they can write secure applications

If it’s impossible to make error-free software, what is the point of liability legislation?

Negative Economic Impact

“It could cost 50 to 100 percent more in an application [to build in reliability].” –CA ExecutiveWho will pay?

YOU will pay Implications for the Digital Divide? Education? The

Economy?

Adverse Effect on the Software Environment Effect on YOU: Estimated extra year to shift

products to market Effect on Programmers: “You’d have a lot of

trouble finding people to work on it. What attracts capable people is the new stuff, the exciting stuff.” – Microsoft Executive Fewer programmers Fewer small companies willing to take risks

Legal Backing

Licenses, not Products EULA ProCD, Inc. v. Zeidenberg, Microsoft v. Harmony Computers,

Novell v. Network Trade Center, and Arizona Cartridge Remanufacturers Association Inc. v. Lexmark International Inc

AOL liable for cost of lost data? Ruling: “The court held that damage to physical, hardware

components of the computer is covered by insurance policy under ‘physical damage to tangible property,’ but loss of instructions, data, and stored information is not.”