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Comment Re:can customers in their own Cybercab get an DUI? (Score 1) 245

If you are an adult of sound mind and you enter voluntarily into an agreement whereby you assume liability for something, then that agreement is enforceable. Control is irrelevant. Choice is what matters. The EULA does not force you to do anything, you can simply not sign it. If you don't believe me, feel free to test it empirically.

Comment Re:can customers in their own Cybercab get an DUI? (Score 1) 245

I agree with you that telling the car where to go does not imply that you have control. However, once you agree to assume responsibility for what happens during the ride, the legal systems won't have a problem with that. For example, I just signed up my kid for a soccer club, and I had to sign a waiver stating that I do so on my sole responsibility and will not seek compensation from the club if gets injured during games or practice. That is totally enforceable, even though I have no control over what happens on the pitch during a game.

Comment Re:can customers in their own Cybercab get an DUI? (Score 1) 245

No, it is not apples to oranges. You have no more control over what IO commands Windows is issuing to the hard drive than you have over the maneuvers of an autonomous car without steering wheel or pedals. Courts will declare a contract invalid in some circumstances, for example if it requires one of the parties to break the law in order to comply, but there is nothing like that here. Software licenses have been doing this for decades, and I am not aware of a case where they have been deemed unenforceable because of this.

The Disney case you mention, however, is apples to oranges, since you don't sign an EULA before you eat. There are already health regulations that require any restaurant to meat certain food safety standards. There would be no point for Disney to make you sign a contract releasing them of liability, because that contract would be declared unenforceable, as contracts cannot supersede laws. There are no such laws binding software providers, so they are free to ask you to assume all liability, and if you do, the courts will probably be fine with it, unless you are under 18.

On the other hand, if Tesla tried to get out of their obligations under the FSD EULA because you also signed a separate EULA for a Tesla battery wall that had more convenient terms for them, then probably the result would be the same as in the Disney case

Comment Re:can customers in their own Cybercab get an DUI? (Score 1) 245

Yes a DUI is a poor test case, since the computer can't get drunk, but hitting a pedestrian is not. In that case, you could incur at least civil, if not criminal liability. You had agency. You decided to take a potentially unsafe car for a ride, and you told it where to go. Anybody trying to get compensation would be more inclined to sue Tesla, since they have deeper pockets, but I am sure they will have an ironclad EULA that dumps all the liability on the user.

Comment Re:Balance Needed (Score 3, Insightful) 42

Requiring that they follow "industry standards" would only encourage the industry to lower its standards bellow rock bottom. How about requiring that they follow standards specified in the law, such as "all internet facing software must be formally verified to be free of defects that would allow privilege escalation or circumvention of access controls", in addition to no liability shielding. Full liability for damages caused by their product should be something that applies to all software companies, just like it does to any other product of human engineering.

Comment Re:Is there some special dress code (Score 1) 180

Yes. For FIDE endorsed tournaments and matches where the world title is in play, as well as the qualifying tournaments for these events, you have to wear a suit. It is really stupid, and Magnus Carlsen is best situated to take a stand against it. They want him there more than he wants to be there, since he has nothing left to prove, but he still is the strongest player in the world by a mile.

Comment Re:They want global control of Apple? (Score 1) 69

No. If Germany passed a national law that governed the German app store, that would only cover apps sold on the German app store. Since your app is sold on the French app store, it would not be covered, but you can't prevent the German guy from buying it.

Here is a good American analogy for what Apple is trying to get away with: imagine you are from Alabama and you go to a brewery in Georgia. The waiter cards you and refuses to sell you bier because your driver's license is from Alabama, even though the license shows you are 50 years old.

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