- Does it allow Exeter and Stratham actually do that?
- Does it give others a “platform” on which to do other things – unintended consequences?
My background is as a software developer – not a lawyer. However, as any one that has done any programming, the object is to first write the code that actually does what is needed (design, code, debug). The next pass is to sit and try to think of all of the ways and permutations that users will use that programming to do their work – and how to subvert their efforts on insisting on “being stuck on stupid”. For lack of training, unsure of the job requirements, cases of “let’s just try THIS and see what happens” to those that rub their hands in glee and exclaim “LET’S PLAY GAMES!” – one can be sure that your code will stop some of the inanities that users believe your code should otherwise handle.
Emphasis on some. Many silly things it won’t simply because I don’t think like they do so I can’t write the software to keep them from using it “wrongly”. To be sure, more will see what works, what doesn’t, and then will try to exploit it because 1) it is a challenge to do so, but for some idea of fun, or 2) they have an ulterior reason to exploit the system from some sort of personal gain. Get the wrong logic operator in the wrong spot (AND instead of OR, EXACTLY instead of CONTAINS) or assuming data is returned from a call in a certain format and type, and things can fizzle pretty quick. GIGO (Garbage In, Garbage Out) deliberately done can really hack out a system – the environment in which a program is run also effects what it can / can’t do and the results (valid / invalid) are spit out.
Laws work the same way. Although not being a lawyer, reviewing laws can be just like reviewing a large program. Instead of CPUs and networks, the political atmosphere into which the law is enacted is its operating environment. And make no mistake, just as in computer systems where programs compete for scarce resources, the equivalence is all of the special interest groups hoping to gain some advantage (rent-seeking, be it for commercial gain or ideological success) in either how the law was written (re: hidden back doors, zero day exploits) or the how it can be interpreted to out-chess folks not as aware by those that seek to use it in unintended fashions.
Read more
