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BBC Commentator Goes After Software Licensing
An anonymous reader writes "Bill Thompson, a regular commentator on the BBC World Service programme Go Digital, criticizes current software licenses (including the GPL) for giving developers 'freedom from responsibility which would be considered wholly unacceptable in almost any other sphere of activity, public or private'." From the article: "A friend of mine is a children's writer. When she writes a non-fiction book she is typically asked to sign a contract that indemnifies the publisher against legal costs resulting from errors of fact in the book. If she was to suggest a school experiment that involved drinking sulphuric acid, because she'd confused it with acetic, then she'd be in big trouble. Yet I can't do anything when a company produces software that exposes my online banking details to any script kiddie with time to spare, because I've agreed a license that removes such liability. "
I agree. I should be able to sue CmdrTaco for getting me fired.
Be a real patriot: Question authority. Think for yourself. Formulate your own conclusions.
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"But see, if we had to ensure that everything worked all the time, it would take too long and nothing would happen. There would be no software."
"Oh, I hadn't thought of that," says the commentator whose argument proceeds to disappear in a puff of reality.
Meanwhile, Industry, rather content with itself, goes on to prove that black is white and white is black and is sued into oblivion by the DMCA.
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