Re: shielding from liability
From: john@win.bright.net
> Is every maintainer an employee or agent of SPI, then? Or is SPI going to
> purchase liability insurance and name all the maintainers as beneficiaries?
They act as agents of SPI in a restricted way, yes. We grant them
access to our internal system to perform volunteer work for the
corporation. We do posess an employer ID number, but we don't feel it's
appropriate for this situation. We don't need to purchase liability
insurance as long as the corporation's total assets are small. Since
the corporation has the liability, it is not necessary to make the developers
beneficiaries of liability insurance.
> I don't really think there is much risk, though.
A software bug can cause damage to life or property. We disclaim warranties,
but some states have laws that don't allow you to disclaim _all_ warranties.
> Has there ever actually been a negligence suit over free software?
I have not heard of one. I am not willing to put my family's security
at risk so that I can be the first test case :-)
Bruce
--
Can you get your operating system fixed when you need it?
Linux - the supportable operating system. http://www.debian.org/support.html
Bruce Perens K6BP bruce@debian.org 510-215-3502
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