So we were assigned "Accountability in a Computerized Society" (pdf) by Helen Nissenbaum to read as part of this week's module on "accountability and liability." While Nissenbaum makes some very valid points about how the current process of software development (or any large corporation) obscures (partially or totally) the lines of accountability, she really misses the mark in other areas.
Early on she proposes that "A general culture of accountability should encourage answerability ... even for the malfunctions that cause individual losses of time, convenience, and contentement."
You mean every time in not content with some product or other I should be able to hold somebody else answerable!?
Her one (and only pertinent) example of a serious software flaw that caused bodily harm in three cases and death in three other: the case of the Therac-25, a computer-controlled radiation treatment device. Beyond this one incident, she provides no other examples of software causing serious harm. Instead, she veers off course, brings up Apple's disclaimer from a 1990 Macintosh Reference Manual ("In no event will Apple be liable for direct, indirect, special, incidental, or consequential damages resulting from any defect in the software or its documentation..." blah blah blah).
Of course, the first thing that pops into my head is, "Who in their right mind would use Apple, Windows, or any other 'consumer software' for something as life-critical as a radiation treatment device?" No one. Certainly no one that is mentioned in her article.
She further proposes that "serious consideration be given to a policy of strict liability for computer system failure, in particular for those sold as consumer products in mass market."
Unfortunately, nowhere in this article does she ever prove or even present a case for the need of such a policy.
Now, don't get me wrong -- I think corporate America has figured out how to get away with way too much. I couldn't agree more. And I certainly think that there ought to be more stringent control over software that is developed and released in the areas that could cause serious harm to individuals (medical, air traffic control systems and the like) but good luck in ever showing real harm from Windows where due diligence was performed by
9:41:40 PM 
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