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Free Software, a Matter of Life and Death

Posted by kdawson on from the serious-as-it-gets dept.

ChiefMonkeyGrinder writes "Software on medical implants is not open to scrutiny by regulatory bodies. Glyn Moody writes: 'Software with the ability to harm as well as help us in the physical world needs to be open to scrutiny to minimise safety issues. Medical devices may be the most extreme manifestation of this, but with the move of embedded software into planes, cars and other large and not-so-large devices with potentially lethal side-effects, the need to inspect software there too becomes increasingly urgent.' A new report 'Killed by Code: Software Transparency in Implantable Medical Devices' from the Software Freedom Law Center points out that, as patients grow more reliant on computerized devices, the dependability of software is a life-or-death issue. 'The need to address software vulnerability is especially pressing for Implantable Medical Devices, which are commonly used by millions of patients to treat chronic heart conditions, epilepsy, diabetes, obesity, and even depression.' Will making the source code free to scrutiny address the issue of faulty devices?"

7 of 197 comments (clear)

  1. Same article different day by guruevi · · Score: 4, Informative

    Dupe! This was covered a couple of days ago.

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    1. Re:Same article different day by betterunixthanunix · · Score: 2, Informative

      And as people pointed out the first time around, medical devices are tested extensively before being deployed. I am an ardent free software supporter, but the safety/reliability issue is simply the wrong argument. I would say the more important argument when it comes to medical software is control -- do you really want to have a corporation that you have absolutely no control over to be in control of a device that sustains your very life? What happens if that company goes bankrupt, and the source code dies with the company? What if they decide they want to start charging people a yearly fee for using their pacemakers (a situation that does not seem too far fetched, given what I have seen proprietary software companies do in the past)?

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    2. Re:Same article different day by bws111 · · Score: 4, Informative

      http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/10/07/22/2346253/SFLC-Wants-To-Avoid-Death-by-Code?art_pos=46

    3. Re:Same article different day by kipd · · Score: 4, Informative

      Yes... No bugs, thoroughly tested: http://www.ccnr.org/fatal_dose.html

  2. Re:I've got to say... by jgagnon · · Score: 2, Informative

    Make sure you leave it off for at least 15 seconds before turning it back on...

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  3. Re:Makes sense by Hatta · · Score: 2, Informative

    This code doesn't necessarily have to be FL/OSS in my mind - let them keep the copyright

    Authors of open source software retain their copyright.

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  4. Re:I've got to say... by Monkeedude1212 · · Score: 3, Informative

    I wish we could up-vote comments ourselves, I'd give this a ++.

    We do. You just have to earn them, that's all. And once you earn them, you can waste them on as many +funny's as you want.