Standardisation: a tool for addressing market failure within the software industry
Standardisation: a tool for addressing market failure within the software industry
Despite the maturity of the software industry, empirical research demonstrates that average software quality, when measured through the presence of software defects, is low. Such defects cause a wide array of issues, not least in the form of vulnerabilities, which support a multi-billion pound a year industry of fraud in cybercrime. This paper suggests that this is the result of market failure stemming from two factors: the first is that information asymmetry prevents the establishment of software quality prior to purchase; whilst the second is that the legal provisions available under private law are unable in their current form to adequately address software liability issues. On that basis this paper proposes the use of standardisation as a tool to address both of these shortcomings by providing an industry benchmark against which software quality can be ascertained, as well as forming a legal tool for determining causation for the purposes of establishing legal liability.
software liability, standardisation, defects, contract, tort
413-429
Moore, Roksana
4768add9-37aa-4898-9d67-681b1c39e7fd
August 2013
Moore, Roksana
4768add9-37aa-4898-9d67-681b1c39e7fd
Moore, Roksana
(2013)
Standardisation: a tool for addressing market failure within the software industry.
Computer Law & Security Review, 29 (4), .
(doi:10.1016/j.clsr.2013.05.009).
Abstract
Despite the maturity of the software industry, empirical research demonstrates that average software quality, when measured through the presence of software defects, is low. Such defects cause a wide array of issues, not least in the form of vulnerabilities, which support a multi-billion pound a year industry of fraud in cybercrime. This paper suggests that this is the result of market failure stemming from two factors: the first is that information asymmetry prevents the establishment of software quality prior to purchase; whilst the second is that the legal provisions available under private law are unable in their current form to adequately address software liability issues. On that basis this paper proposes the use of standardisation as a tool to address both of these shortcomings by providing an industry benchmark against which software quality can be ascertained, as well as forming a legal tool for determining causation for the purposes of establishing legal liability.
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Published date: August 2013
Keywords:
software liability, standardisation, defects, contract, tort
Organisations:
Southampton Law School
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 345766
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/345766
ISSN: 2212-4748
PURE UUID: 579e67a8-9e66-4523-a69a-1460aa5ccb87
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Date deposited: 03 Dec 2012 11:18
Last modified: 14 Mar 2024 12:29
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Author:
Roksana Moore
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