Slot Machine with Bad Software Sends Players To Jail

dcollins writes "Previous discussions here have turned into debates over who is liable for faulty software: the programmers, the publisher, etc. Yahoo has a new option: perhaps the users are criminally liable for using the software. From the AP: 'Prosecutors are considering criminal charges against casino gamblers who won big on a slot machine that had been installed with faulty software ... A decision on whether to bring criminal charges could come in a couple of weeks, said John Colin, chief deputy prosecutor for Harrison County. He said 'criminal intent' may be involved when people play a machine they know is faulty.' Would your average user be able to distinguish 'faulty software' from 'lucky'?"

Comments

"Nothing for you to see here."

[Aurisor]

Nothing for you to see here. Please move along.

Don't send me to jail, I'm too young to waste away in the can!

WTF? Morality vs. Legality

[rleibman]

I am totally flabbergasted by all of the people here. The number of you who seem to think that it is perfectly ok to bilk the Casino as long you're not caught is mind numbing. Would you steal from an old lady if you knew you wouldn't get caught or if the state didn't consider it "against the law"? Would you rape? Torture? It is moments like this that I understand how depraved situations like Nazi Germany happened: people so used to doing what their government tells them it is ok and lawful.

The fact that the Casino is trying to take advantage of people and that they may not be run by the most moral of humans is no excuse either, these people were patronizing their establishments and threw themselves with the owners at that point.

I really thought the majority of geeks around here would be slightly more moral than the average... I might be wrong.

Bush and Cheney Conspiracy

[Un pobre guey]

The real purpose is to be able to blame war crimes committed in Iraq on people who watched news reports of them on TV instead of those who ordered them to be committed. Also to blame embezzlement of taxpayer dollars by defense contractors and petroleum interests on the people who paid the taxes in the first place. Then, all types of crime, from misdemeanors to felonies, will be blamed on the first five people who were found to be within 1000 m of the crime during the 24 hr before and after the crime took place (on a first come, first served basis). Eventually, all crimes of any kind involving large amounts of money will be blamed on those who did not receive any of the money, with obligatory waiver of trial and automatic sentencing to maximum allowed by law.

And we haven't even started with standardized testing or credit card billing policies.