Software

[Dark_Nation]

A programmer has a group of testers for a program he is working on. Instead of e-mailing the program to them, he uploads them to a server into a hidden place. Unless you know (or guess) the location, you would never see it. Somehow, someone else gets access to the location of these betas and starts to distribute the betas (by giving out the link and by copying the betas and distributing them from their own server). To stop this, the programmer writes code into one of the betas that cripples the Windows operating system if that beta is run. No data was deleted, one item on the computer was renamed. Renaming it back fixes the problem. However, an untrained person would generally resort to erasing everything on the computer and reinstalling Windows.

So: The programmer didn't give the beta nor a link to the beta to anyone but his beta testers, and they were warned twice not to touch it. The place that the beta was stored was hidden from view unless one guessed or was told the location or hacked into the server to find it. Anyone who would have gone there would have known that they should not have been there. The program did no damage to any data anywhere, it simply moved one file and moving it back would restore things to normal. Also, when the program is installed, it warns you to "Make sure you back up your files before using this!" and gives you the option to cancel the installation (installation doesn't disable Windows, just running the installed program does).

So, the question is, would anyone who got this program that they weren't supposed to be in possession of (and that they knew that they weren't supposed to be in possession of) have any sort of case against the programmer?

Specific laws that prove the point or cases where this has been decided in the past would be appreciated if you happen to know any.

Thanks

 

[Michael Wechsler]

It would likely be difficult for the wrongdoers to have a case against the programmer. This is due to the "unclean hands" doctrine. The court will not entertain your case if you come into court with "unclean hands," as seems the case here. There are some exceptions to the rule but they usually involve something involving life or liberty, e.g. using far greater force than necessary to combat someone.