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December 04, 2003

Why Tort Lawyers Could Stop Viruses

The Economist has a long profile of the virus and spam problem infesting computers.

One person quoted, Bruce Schneier, a leading expert on network security, has suggested the problem is that tort lawyers haven't been suing enough people:

The culprit, in other words, is the licences that require buyers of new software to click their assent that the vendor is not liable for any flaws in its software. As long as software vendors-- and this is not specific to Microsoft-- cannot be held liable for security issues, Mr Schneier says, the economic incentives are stacked toward adding bells and whistles and shipping upgrades fast, rather than toward writing simpler, safer software.

Changing the law so that liability does rest at least in part with vendors, he argues, would align the incentives properly and lead to other good things as well. Software companies, just like firms in other industries, would buy product-liability insurance. Insurance companies would respond by pricing the risk, in effect voting on the security of each product. Just as companies that install sprinklers in their warehouses pay lower premiums and have a competitive edge over rivals that do not, software companies that write safer code would have an economic advantage.

Essentially, it's the fact that Microsoft hasn't had to fear liability suits that explains the spam and viruses infesting your computer.

Actually, this isn't a new argument, although it was made more in a famous joke many years ago about if Microsoft made cars:

Posted by Nathan at December 4, 2003 01:32 AM

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