I know that Congress passed an act with respect to CIVIL damages. But what about CRIMINAL liability?? Bill Gates shipped a mountain of software (Windows 98) with FULL KNOWLEDGE that it wasn't compliant. He didn't have to ship, he could have waited and fixed Windows 95.

Look, I have no hostility toward Mr. Gates or anyone else. I DO know that a Grand Jury issued a report today in Ventura County about Y2K readiness. What if people die??? It seems that I remember a whole class of English cases from the early days of Railroading where poor younsters were prosecuted for litterally being "asleep at the Switch." Manslaughter cases.

Any thoughts???

-- K. Stevens (kstevens@It's ALL going away in January.com), July 03, 1999

Answers

Yep, they'll get away with murder.

-- Andy (2000EOD@prodigy.net), July 03, 1999.

K. Stevens, do you have a link to that Ventura County grand jury report? I'd like to check that out a bit more....

-- Norm Harrold (nharrold@tymewyse.com), July 03, 1999.

No, I don't have a link. The Grand Jury story is on comp.software.year2000 newsgroup.

The Grand Jury in question issued a report that several cities in Ventura County were behind in Y2K progress vis-a-vis Thousand Oaks. One city official is quoted as saying that he wished he had the resources (money) that Thousand Oaks had.

Look, I'm just asking, in a context where GTE filed a lawsuit for $400 MILLION against 5 insurance companies, will the DA's "go postal" in a Criminal law context if people die.

-- K. Stevens (kstevens@It's ALL going away in January.com), July 03, 1999.