Proposal for P2P disclaimer text

Andreas Pour pour at mieterra.com
Fri Mar 19 02:14:44 CET 2004


Martin Köbele wrote:
> 
> On Thursday 18 March 2004 16:44, Martin Köbele wrote:
> > GPL §0:  "[...]The act of running the Program is not restricted,[...]".
> >
> >
> > So we can't restrict, we could warn though.
> 
> even better are §11 and §12 in the "NO WARRANTY"-section.
> (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html)
> 
> After reading this, I think we don't need a p2p-disclaimer at all.
> It is up to the user and the developers are not liable.

It is still prudent to have the disclaimer.  That is why you see virtually every
contract having disclaimers.

If you read about the US state attorney generals' suit, they are claiming there
are not enough warnings.  This is essentially a product defect claim (e.g., if
you don't warn someone lighting a match near a gasoline canister might result in
an explosion, you can be liable if someone lights a match and is injured).  One
way to avert product liability is to use warnings.  Generic disclaimers of
liability are generally not enough (b/c tort law supersedes contract law).

Anyway, I am done with this thread.  If the text is not included in the license,
documentation and as a warning on first startup, if anyone gets sued, please
don't ask for my help, b/c I will simply answer, "I told you so".

Ciao,

Dre


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