[CAP] Apple Prohibits Emergency Warning on iPhone 3G?
Rex Buddenberg
budden at nps.navy.mil
Thu Jun 12 04:03:59 PDT 2008
There's a dimension here that hasn't been discussed.
Has: disclaimers like this are attached to lots of things, not just
software.
Has not. The survival of such a disclaimer in the open source software
world.
First recall that iPhone was a closed source software platform but was
quickly hacked. Subsequently, Apple has been making lemonade ... else
the disclaimer would have not been necessary because Apple could have
simply self-abided by its unpublished disclaimer.
Over across town, Google has the Android project up which is open
source from the git-go. Can you imagine that location-based thingies
would not get attached? (for those who haven't been through the Android
toolkit, linux base with a lot of java middleware on top of it ... all
designed initially as a soft-VOIP-phone, but deliberately opened up to
see what happens and capture the creativity of the open source
community).
One of the features of GPL-licensed open source is traceability. So, in
theory, you can track down who to sue -- a CVS rollback will lead you
right to the target. But the track record of this actually happening
isn't too good. For several reasons, ... chief among these is the
'caveat emptor' character of open source. (A secondary reason is that
a fair number of the prospective defendants don't have very deep
pockets).
For the irony-challenged, we should recall that GPS itself was
program-justified solely on Dept of Defense requirements. There was no
acknowledged civil requirement. Such was the case with both Loran A and
Loran C as well. The civil requirements were only acknowledged
(reluctantly) by DoD in the early 1990s (after the Army discovered how
many commercial GPS receivers had made it to Desert Storm).
On Thu, 2008-06-12 at 12:25 -0400, Ernst, Darrell E. wrote:
> Excellent discussion. Thank you very much for your insights.
>
> Darrell
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: David Aylward [mailto:daylward at comcare.org]
> Sent: Thursday, June 12, 2008 12:21 PM
> To: David E. Price, SRO, CHMM; cap-list at lists.incident.com
> Cc: Art Botterell; Ernst, Darrell E.; Smith, Winston I.; Walsh, Joe;
> Marshall, Jim
> Subject: RE: [CAP] Apple Prohibits Emergency Warning on iPhone 3G?
>
> As most 9-1-1 and other emergency software applications now run on
> Windows platforms, I guess we have solved this riddle. :-)
>
>
> David K. Aylward, Director
> COMCARE Emergency Response Alliance
> 1050 17th Street NW Suite 600
> Washington, DC 20036
> 202.255.3215 (mobile)
> 202.429.0574 ext. 3619 (office)
> 202.521-4047 (fax)
> daylward at comcare.org
>
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> subsequent
> reply, should be deleted or destroyed.
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: David E. Price, SRO, CHMM [mailto:price16 at llnl.gov]
> Sent: Thursday, June 12, 2008 12:17 PM
> To: cap-list at lists.incident.com
> Cc: Art Botterell; Ernst, Darrell E.; Smith, Winston I.; Walsh, Joe;
> Marshall, Jim; David Aylward
> Subject: Re: [CAP] Apple Prohibits Emergency Warning on iPhone 3G?
>
> And I would like to add that Microsoft has similar language in their
> licenses for Windows (and as mentioned already, Sun has for Java). I
> believe this is just standard legalese from the lawyers to attempt to
> limit liability.
>
> And we all know Windows and Java are being used in systems which
> definitely have an effect on nuclear power plant operations as the
> recent SCRAM of a reactor at the Edwin I. Hatch Nuclear Plant so
> dramatically showed.
>
> In the information-poor environment of immediate emergency response
> people need to use whatever tools help protect life and property and
> let the after-action analyses deal with the license restrictions.
>
> David E. Price SRO, CHMM
> Senior Safety Analyst
> (Nuclear, Chemical, Biological, and Explosives Accident/Safety
> Analyses)
> Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
> P. O. Box 808 L-073
> Livermore, CA USA 94551
> Voice (925) 422-3980 Secure Voice (925) 423-2222 Fax (925)
> 423-1479
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
> -
> ----
>
> At 11:40 AM -0400 6/12/08, David Aylward wrote:
> >As a lawyer, I am amused by Apple's restriction, and impressed by
> Art's
> >legal advice.
> >
> >
> >David K. Aylward, Director
> >COMCARE Emergency Response Alliance
> >1050 17th Street NW Suite 600
> >Washington, DC 20036
> >202.255.3215 (mobile)
> >202.429.0574 ext. 3619 (office)
> >202.521-4047 (fax)
> >daylward at comcare.org
> >
> >-----Original Message-----
> >From: cap-list-bounces at lists.incident.com
> >[mailto:cap-list-bounces at lists.incident.com] On Behalf Of Art
> Botterell
> >Sent: Thursday, June 12, 2008 10:59 AM
> >To: Ernst, Darrell E.
> >Cc: Smith, Winston I.; Walsh,Joe; cap-list at lists.incident.com;
> Marshall,
> >Jim
> >Subject: Re: [CAP] Apple Prohibits Emergency Warning on iPhone 3G?
> >
> >Liability control... reminds me of the Java license's prohibition
> >against using the language in the design or operation of nuclear
> >reactors.
> >
> >While I am not a lawyer and nothing here should be construed as legal
> >advice [see, any number can play!] I'd speculate that application
> >developers might simply follow suit with license language of their own
> >along the lines of "This application is provided as a news and
> >information service; it should not be relied upon as a sole or primary
> >source of emergency or life-saving information."
> >
> >A bit of appropriate public-expectation management is probably never a
> >bad idea with warning systems anyway.
> >
> >- Art
> >
> >
> >On Jun 12, 2008, at 6/12/08 5:41 AM, Ernst, Darrell E. wrote:
> >
> >> An article in GPS World Online
> >>
> >>
> http://lbs.gpsworld.com/gpslbs/LBS+News/Apple-Dont-Bother-with-Route-
> >> Gu
> >> idance-Fleet-Manage/ArticleStandard/Article/detail/523198?
> >> contextCatego
> >> ryId=38444
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> says that the software developer's license prohibits many
> >> location-based services. Here is the relevant quote from the
> license:
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> "Applications may not be designed or marketed for
> >> real-time route guidance; automatic or autonomous control of
> vehicles,
> >> aircraft, or other mechanical devices; dispatch or fleet
> management;
> >> or
> >> emergency or life-saving purposes,"
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> Does this mean that applications that display emergency warnings
> are
> >> prohibited on the device? Many fields in the CAP protocol were
> >> developed specifically to support location-based communications.
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> Darrell E. Ernst
> >>
> >> Principal Defense Space Systems Engineer
> >>
> >> The MITRE Corporation
> >>
> >> +1-703-983-5914 (Office)
> >>
> >> +1-703-606-3867 (Cell)
> >>
> >> +1-703-983-1370 (Fax)
> >> _______________________________________________
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> >> Management TC. Comments for the OASIS record should be posted
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> >> the form at
> >http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/comments/form.php?wg_abbrev=emerg
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> >_______________________________________________
> >This list is for public discussion of the Common Alerting Protocol.
> >This list is NOT part of the formal record of the OASIS Emergency
> >Management TC. Comments for the OASIS record should be posted using
> the
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> >http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/comments/form.php?wg_abbrev=emerg
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> >_______________________________________________
> >This list is for public discussion of the Common Alerting Protocol.
> >This list is NOT part of the formal record of the OASIS Emergency
> >Management TC. Comments for the OASIS record should be posted using
> >the form at
> >http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/comments/form.php?wg_abbrev=emerg
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> _______________________________________________
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