Sunday, April 09, 2006

Problems with D-Link

Poul-Henning Kamp has been having problems with his NTP server, apparently due to poorly designed D-Link products. Richard Clayton has written about the case too.

It's a classic case of economic externalities. The damage is not affecting the company causing it, so they have no incentive to sort it out. The way to solve the problem is for the vendor to fix their products but they will not do so because it is not in their own financial interest. This is not a technical problem. It is an economic problem. The way to fix it is to fix the economics by making tech cos, whose products cause this kind of damage, liable for the damage caused.

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