
GPL software in cars doesn't kill people (2016) - tzhenghao
http://ebb.org/bkuhn/blog/2016/08/13/does-not-kill.html
======
jfv
Proprietary software vendors market their software as being more secure
through FUD in general. This isn't specific to the car industry.

What's sad is that this article uses _exactly_ the same rhetorical tactics.
The failures of Therac-25 had nothing to do with open vs. closed codebases. It
had to do with quality control at the level of the engineering team.

> At least one person has already been killed in a crash while using a
> proprietary software auto-control system.

This is just a silly argument. If there were an adequate sample size of open
auto-control systems you could make a case.

> Meanwhile, there has been not a single example yet about use of GPLv3
> software that has harmed anyone.

Has there really not been an exploit used on an GPL webserver that hasn't been
used to "harm" someone in some way? Not much software has the impact to
directly physically harm someone in the same way a car does. But user
information and data?

There's so much more wrong with this article that it would take an even longer
article to explain it. This is literally the stupidest thing I've read in
years.

~~~
eeZah7Ux
> > At least one person has already been killed in a crash while using a
> proprietary software auto-control system. > This is just a silly argument.
> If there were an adequate sample size of open auto-control systems you could
> make a case.

You are taking the sentence without context, making it look like a silly
argument. Kuhn was juxtaposing it to unfunded claims that open source is known
to be more dangerous than closed source.

Later on the discussion takes a rational approach: "until you can prove that
proprietary software assures safety in a way that FLOSS cannot..."

------
reificator
I had no doubt that it does. But this article has so little substance that
maybe I should reevaluate my opinion.

~~~
reificator
For context, the original title was something like "Security Through Obscurity
Kills People (2016)"

------
runningmike
Good statement of the very respected Bradley M. Kuhn from the Software Freedom
Conservancy ([https://sfconservancy.org](https://sfconservancy.org)). But my
current view nowadays is that the automotive industry is more and more open.
Foss unless it seems for new developments in this sector. Of course the battle
is definitely not over, due to fad discussions on security and open source.
Nice one on this subject is [http://security-and-privacy-reference-
architecture.readthedo...](http://security-and-privacy-reference-
architecture.readthedocs.io/en/latest/)

