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Software informed consent: Docete emptorem, not caveat emptor

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Abstract

Should software be sold “as is”, totally guaranteed, or something else? This paper suggests that “informed consent”, used extensively in medical ethics, is an appropriate way to envision the buyer/developer relationship when software is sold. We review why the technical difficulties preclude delivering perfect software, but allow statistical predictions about reliability. Then we borrow principles refined by medical ethics and apply them to computer professionals.

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Miller, K. Software informed consent: Docete emptorem, not caveat emptor . SCI ENG ETHICS 4, 357–362 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11948-998-0028-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11948-998-0028-8

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