Hacker News new | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit login

Yep, context and environment is important. You're signing off on your product being used in a particular context and in a particular environment. The semi-truck driving over a pedestrian bridge is a great example.

Unfortunately for much of software engineering, our "environment" is the open Internet where there are largely invisible, international, adversarial attackers working 24 hours a day, seven days a week. With Internet-connected software we can't just say "Oh, this software's intended environment is a clean-room LAN with no connected devices! That's all I'm signing off." That's not reality. As for your example, companies should really, really have a hard conversation about taking a software designed for privacy use and just opening it up to the Internet without hardening it sufficiently. Accountability would help make that conversation possible.




> semi-truck driving over a pedestrian bridge is a great example

It also incentivises the engineer to clearly document their design’s limits. Imagine if software sales had that much transparency.




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: