Can Programmers Become Legally Liable for Their Code?

owillis asks: "Reading this Salon article on file sharing programmers who are suspending or ending work on their projects due to the legal climate post-Napster, I wonder what the liabilty is for people who work on open source software. Does open source protect the creators from these laws or is it fair game?" We've discussed this before but it would be interesting to note if your opinions have changed after the Napster ruling. However it bothers me that in today's legal climate, it is easier to blame the creator of the tool rather than the users who use them illegally.