Death of the Internet, Film at 11

[bzs at TheWorld.com (bzs at TheWorld.com)]

I'm not sure who you mean when you say "people". My reference was to
manufacturers of IoT devices only.

But as I said in the note which you quoted lawsuits might be helpful
but aren't necessary.

One just has to get underwriters of the manufacturers' product
liability insurance to acknowledge they have not fully assessed future
financial risks of those policies.

Since manufacturers probably won't like those new increased premiums,
and it's within their control to improve the potential product
liability and get their insurance premiums lowered, they would likely
respond by improving their product (i.e.. security.)

Put in simple terms if your auto insurance company told you your
annual premiums are going up because your tires are bad (whatever) you
might consider getting new tires particularly if the net cost
(increased premiums year after year vs cost of tires) was positive to
you.

Please for the love of all that is sane and reasonable don't quibble
about tires and insurance. If you have a pile of fire-prone materials
near your house, no railings on steps, whatever, you're likely to
prioritize fixing that if your premiums go up sufficiently.

Since manufacturers have huge multipliers (number of devices, number
of potential liability claims) this sort of approach can and has been
effective.

On October 23, 2016 at 16:46 deleskie at gmail.com (jim deleskie) wrote:
 > Sure lets sue people because they put too many/bad packets/packets I don't
 > like on the internet.  Do you think this will really solve the porblem?  Do
 > you think we'll not just all end up with internet prices like US medical
 > care prices?
 > 
 > On Sun, Oct 23, 2016 at 4:41 PM, <bzs at theworld.com> wrote:
 > 
 > >
 > > >So once identified, how do you suggest this gets fixed?
 > >
 > > Assuming these manufacturers who are culpable carry product liability
 > > insurance go to their insurance companies and explain the situation.
 > >
 > > Better would be someone launching a product liability lawsuit against
 > > one of them but it's not necessary, ins cos work on projections and
 > > probabilities as much as being reactive.
 > >
 > > The insurance companies will likely re-assess their risk on these
 > > policies and inform the manufacturers of any adjustment in premiums.
 > >
 > > If the premiums are adjusted up significantly the manufacturers will
 > > sit down with the ins cos and try to determine what needs to be
 > > improved in their product to bring premiums back down.
 > >
 > > Look at what Samsung just went thru with the Note 7. I'd imagine their
 > > product liability insurance premiums took a big hit. Even if they're
 > > self-insured they have to treat that as a cost center and make sure
 > > sufficient money to pay claims is going into that cost center.
 > >
 > > It's a button to push, so to speak, and has been successful many times
 > > in the past (cars, worker exposure to health hazards, etc.)
 > >
 > > --
 > >         -Barry Shein
 > >
 > > Software Tool & Die    | bzs at TheWorld.com             |
 > > http://www.TheWorld.com
 > > Purveyors to the Trade | Voice: +1 617-STD-WRLD       | 800-THE-WRLD
 > > The World: Since 1989  | A Public Information Utility | *oo*
 > >

-- 
        -Barry Shein

Software Tool & Die    | bzs at TheWorld.com             | http://www.TheWorld.com
Purveyors to the Trade | Voice: +1 617-STD-WRLD       | 800-THE-WRLD
The World: Since 1989  | A Public Information Utility | *oo*