Re: Software Liability

["Robert C. Leif" <rleif@rleif.com>]

From: Bob Leif
To: All
The following is from Reuters. Please see the last sentence. 
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Software Errors Cost Billions 
Fri Jun 28, 6:12 PM ET 

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Software bugs are not just annoying or
inconvenient. They're expensive. 

  
According to a study by the U.S. Department of Commerce's National
Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the bugs and glitches cost
the U.S. economy about $59.5 billion a year. 

"The impact of software errors is enormous because virtually every
business in the United States now depends on software for the
development, production, distribution, and after-sales support of
products and services," NIST Director Arden Bement said in a statement
on Friday. 

Software users contribute about half the problem, while developers and
vendors are to blame for the rest, the study said. The study also found
that better testing could expose the bugs and remove bugs at the early
development stage could reduce about $22.2 billion of the cost. 

"Currently, over half of all errors are not found until 'downstream' in
the development process or during post-sale software use," the study
said. 

The study, conducted by the Research Triangle Institute in North
Carolina and the software industry was conducted to identify and assess
technical needs to improve software-testing capabilities. 

Software is error-ridden, in part because of the complexity inherent in
millions of lines of code. About 80 percent of the cost of developing
software programs goes to identifying and correcting defects. Yet, few
products of any type other than software are shipped with such high
levels of errors, the study found. 

Other factors contributing the problem include marketing strategies,
limited liability by software vendors, and decreasing returns on testing
and debugging, according to the study. 

In January, the National Academy of Sciences ( news - web sites) issued
a report urging lawmakers to consider adopting legislation to hold
software vendors liable for security breaches. 

If software makers were held liable, the cost to consumers would rise
dramatically, said Marc E. Brown, a partner at the Los Angeles law firm
of McDermott, Will & Emery. 

However, Europe already has begun addressing the issue. 

A Dutch judge in September convicted Exact Holding of malpractice for
selling buggy software, rejecting the argument that early versions of
software are traditionally unstable.