[opensource-dev] Third party viewer policy
Darmath
darmath at tpg.com.au
Wed Feb 24 17:55:29 PST 2010
Marine Kelley wrote:
> Besides I don't see why on Earth any RL info should be disclosed to
> everyone in the open, it is nobody's business except LL's who is
> making and publishing third party viewers to connect to their grid. To
> me the average developer of a third party viewer should be allowed to
> remain anonymous, since the real griefers are never going to publish
> their data anyway. And since a viewer developer cannot be held
> responsible for the use of their viewer (despite what the policy
> implies), this is a moot point.
I disagree. It's actually the business of the user of the client who the
relevant developer is. However that said I agree a developer should be
able to remain anonymous should they choose. The reality is it's in the
users hands whether he, she or it, will use a client from an unknown
source or not. If they choose that they don't want to run a program on
their computer from an unknown source then that is a choice for them to
make.
Additionally I seem to be reading a lot seeking to suggest that
developers in open source projects cannot be held liable with respect to
the damage that the software developed may do to a user of that
software. Whilst you can't judge each and every case in a vacuum I
believe that notion is somewhat misguided. In my opinion the only thing
that protects such persons from actually being sued is their ability to
remain anonymous. After all it is kind of hard to sue people that are
hiding in the shadows ;-). That doesn't mean that unknown individuals
aren't actually liable. Liability and the practical ability to sue
people are two different things.
Kind regards
Darren
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