Manufacturer Liability

The topic for this discussion is "do you believe that software manufacturers should have any responsibility for the security of their products?"

Your answer must relate back to something in this week's outside reading from New Republic, or you can find another article online if you prefer. If you do that, you must post a link so that other students can look it up also.

Note that this is NOT a yes/no question. There are many different levels of responsibility that a manufacturer could be given. Here's a few examples:

• The manufacturer should have to pay for all damages caused by use of their product
• The manufacturer should have to notify all customers anytime a flaw is found and repair it at no cost ASAP.
• The manufacturer should have to make patches available but are under no obligation to notify all customers.
• The manufacturer has no obligation at all (the current situation).

Moreover, there may need to be a time limit. Should they be responsible for five years after the product is released? Ten years? Forever?

And what about free software?