[Clips] Can writing software be a crime?

[Ian Brown]

It seems quite a jump for Mark Rasch to go from:

>the U.S. law makes it a crime to either manufacture or possess
>any device if you have a reason to know that it is, "primarily
>useful for the purpose of the surreptitious interception of wire,
>oral, or electronic communications."

to:

>Software developers need to be aware of potentially illegal uses
>of the software that they develop, market and sell. While they
>generally will not be held liable for such illegal uses, they may
>have some liability if they know or reasonably should know about
>the illegal or infringing use, particularly if they advertise or
>promote the usefulness of the software for such use.

The former seems to be a very specific statute concerning interception
devices, which doesn't illuminate the more general type of vicarious
liability he alludes to in the latter quote. This alone doesn't seem to
justify a general warning to developers of "anonymizing programs, wipe
or delete programs, evidence eliminators, or even (potentially) access
control programs, if developers know or should know that these will be
used for obstruction of justice".

Ian.


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