[sdiy] legalities?

[john mahoney]

Where is the line between (a) telling people that YOU did something, and (b)
telling people to do something themselves? I mean, what if you stated
something like this?

"This article is intended for educational purposes only. It is NOT an
instructional article. DO NOT ATTEMPT what the author describes. Switch mode
power supplies (SMPS) contain areas of dangerously HIGH VOLTAGE. We are
reporting the results of our investigation and experimentation only to
expose some of the technology inside modern SMPS."


Pretty naive of me to think that would make any difference, huh? Proof that
IANAL!  ;-)
--
john

(I Am Not A Lawyer)


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Batz Goodfortune" <batzman-nr at all-electric.com>
To: "Harry Bissell Jr" <harrybissell at prodigy.net>; "Chris CROSSKEY"
<chris at crosskey.fslife.co.uk>; "synth" <synth-diy at dropmix.xs4all.nl>
Sent: Thursday, January 27, 2005 7:11 PM
Subject: Re: [sdiy] legalities?


> Y-ellow All.
>          And thanks for the thoughts and nurture on this subject. Which
> quite frankly scares the politicians out of me.
>
> I once _Paid_ a lawyer. Or was it a tailor? Either way I was stiched up.
>
> At 01:55 PM 1/27/05 -0800, Harry Bissell Jr wrote:
> >--- Chris CROSSKEY <chris at crosskey.fslife.co.uk>
> >wrote:
> >
> > > Doesn't matter what the disclaimer says, if you are
> > > telling people to do
> > > something stupid then all the "You do this at your
> > > own risk" and advice
> > > about what the risks are is meaningless in UK law,
> > > you have a duty of care
> > > as an expert to tell them not to do it....
> >
> >Of course the question is... if you're an expert (ie
> >you published your paper) ... did you tell the person
> >to do something STUPID, or not. Or could they have
> >reasonably been expected to do something stupid based
> >on your information.
> >
> >If you tell someone (for example) "Always remove the
> >bullets from your gun before cleaning it" you are
> >quite
> >safe if they DON'T follow your advise.
>
> I guess this is at the heart of my concerns. By telling people how to open
> up and modify a switch mode, I'm already, technically, telling people to
do
> something stupid. It could be argued that this kind of person only
pollutes
> the gene pool and that I was doing humanity a favor but then that comes
> into conflict with the prime directive. Which when translated from
legalize
> is basically. "Never give a sucker and even break."
>
> I have disclaimers all over the place so far. Almost literally as "Boiler
> Plates." Including, but not limited to, a warning not to stick one's sex
> organs in a blender and turn it on. Although I sincerely hope someone DOES
> do that because I could use a good laugh.
>
> I'm also concerned that, being ADD, I'm likely to overlook something
> otherwise obvious and leave myself wide open. I guess I could disclaim for
> that as well. But when I wrote the disclaimers and the pre-amble text, my
> concern wasn't that I might get sued but that I really didn't want anyone
> to injure or killer themselves. Or anyone else.
>
> A curious thing I noticed was that of all the so-called projects
concerning
> the conversion of old computer power supplies, all of them consisted
simply
> of soldering a bleed resistor across the 5 volt line for loading. Such
that
> one could get a clean 12 volts at about 4 amps. I'm contending a variable
> supply of between +/-1.2 volts and +/-25 volts at up to 20 amps. You can
> imagine the extent of the modification and testing required as compared.
>
> So it sounds more like Harry's second scenario rather than the first. Wise
> people would know better than to play with this shit. Since when have I
> been wise? But then as John Cleese once said. "I may be an idiot but I'm
no
> fool."
>
> I can see that I'm seriously going to have to re-configure this project's
> verbage. The other thing is that, were I doing this project again now, I
> would in fact tackle it another way. But I want to present it as is
because
> it demonstrates the principals better. (and I don't want to do a mark II
> right now.) I'm figuring now that if I present this as research and not as
> something you should actually do, then I'm not actually telling anyone to
> do anything. If they do then it's something THEY did not something I
> suggested. Does this sound reasonable?
>
> Just out of interest, apparently, statistically speaking per capita,
> Australia is more litigious than the US. Which surprised me but the place
> IS full of rednecks and the lawyers who prey on them.
>
> One particular law site worth a mention would be this.
>
> http://www.lectlaw.com
>
> Highly amusing. I thought it was a parody site but apparently not. It's
> just some bunch of lawyer's sense of humor. So I'll leave you with a quote
> from the site. Those of religious and/or prudish constitutions should look
> away now lest they blush. And apologies in advance to Chris' dad. Although
> it WAS a lawyer who told this...
>
> A Woman went to her doctor somewhat worried. She said.
>
> "Doctor. I can't get pregnant if I have anal sex can I?"
>
> The doctor turned and said. "Of course you can dear. Where do you think
> lawyers come from?"
>
> Thanks again all. I'll throw another gold fish on the barbie.
>
> Be absolutely Icebox.
>
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