[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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