im.py: a python communications tool

[Steven D'Aprano]

On Mon, 08 Apr 2013 23:20:54 -0700, Mark Janssen wrote:

>> I'm not a lawyer, and I suspect you're not either.  If a burglar climbs
>> up my trellis to try to attain a second floor window, and comes
>> crashing to the ground, he may very well successfully sue me for not
>> having a warning sign.
> 
> No, I understand these cases are common lore, but it's this bullshit
> which is ruining everything that was balanced by the Constitution.

Which Constitution is that? The Russian Constitution? Italian? Japanese? 
Brazilian? New Zealand? Serbian? South African?


> By
> propagating such ideas, it continues the idea that we're all victims to
> our own system of law, but we are the tacit *creators* of it by our own
> negligence, and frankly, pessimism.
> 
> This is a system of, by and for the People -- those are the words of the
> Constitution of the United States which is the highest law of the land. 

Speak for yourself. Not everyone here is a Yankie.


> People need to fight this "enabler" creep, that allows it to continually
> be co-opted by fear-story, like the one that was being propagated
> earlier.  We're not victims here.  The story of a burglar suing a
> homeowner is either urban myth and a hoax, 

Maybe, maybe not, but it's irrelevant. We're not talking about somebody 
breaking into your home to steal your DVD, and on the way in, being 
injured by your software. We're talking about somebody using your 
software, *with your explicit permission*, and then having it cause them 
harm by being unfit for the purpose advertised.

If you don't disclaim warranty, and even sometimes if you do, there is an 
implicit warranty that your goods will be fit for their purpose in many 
jurisdictions. In some places that may only apply if money changes hands; 
in other places it will apply regardless.


-- 
Steven