prohibiting use that would result in death or personal injury

[Justin Wells]

Refresher: what we're talking about is whether or not you can get away 
with "do not use this software for life-safety systems" in an opensource 
license (violating fields of endeavour) and if you don't disclaim
that, are you open to unlimited liability.

In my jurisdiction, and from my understanding in many others, there are 
some things you either just can't disclaim liability for, or else it's 
very very difficult to do. I'm not a lawyer, I don't know the details.

I do know that when I went white water rafting the rafting company made 
me write out in my own handwriting a long statement saying that I knew I 
was risking my life, I'd been warned of the dangers (they made me write 
out by hand what they were) and if anything happened to me it was
my own fault. The rafting company was under the impression that
anything short of having that written out in my own handwriting, listing
the specific risks I was taking, might not stand up in court.

Presumably sticking this on the raft would NOT have worked:

   Do not use this raft unless you agree to all of the following 
   conditions. If you die or are personally injured while using this
   raft you agree not to hold us liable for your loss.

Which is more or less what an "opensource raft license" would do. The
alternative is to write "Do not use this raft where there is any risk 
of death or personal injury" on the raft--but that gets into fields of
endeavour problems with the OSD.

But, maybe if I put in this kind of language: 

   This raft was not designed or intended for whitewater rafting,
   or for use in any situation where there is a risk of death or
   personal injury. We are not liable if you use this raft for 
   purposes other than those it was designed and intended for.

maybe that gets me off the hook without actually forbidding you from
trying it. I don't know. It's worth finding out.

I can see why the law does this. I can imagine a slum landlord forcing a 
poverty-stricken family to sign some awful disclaimer saying that the 
landlord was not liable for any deaths resulting from the horrible 
condition of the property. I can see why the courts wouldn't want to 
make that an easy thing to do--but in an opensource license, it's 
causing me some grief.

Justin