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I have a written a small app as a research project that uses open source libraries. It can do packet sniffing, network scanning and man in the middle attacks on wifi and lan.

This software is intended to be used for security auditing.

But users can also use it to circumvent the MAC filtering of their ISP and get free internet.

The case seems similar to that of uTorrent. uTorrent can be used legally, but almost everyone uses it for illegal downloading.

If users download my software and use it like that, can the ISP sue me as the author of the software? What should I put into the Terms and Conditions to avoid being sued for misuse of my software?

EDIT
I'm from Eastern Europe, but live in the UK. In which country should I ask a lawyer? People can download my software globally.

siamii
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    Off-topic. Laws change from country to country. Also, on Programmers.SE, people are programmers, not lawyers. If you want a right answer to your question, consult a lawyer of your country instead. – Arseni Mourzenko Aug 22 '11 at 16:09
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    There are enough of these questions I'm sure it's just a matter of time before we see `legal.stackexchange.com`. – Joel Etherton Aug 22 '11 at 16:12
  • I'm from Eastern Europe, but live in the UK. In which country should I ask a lawyer? People can download my software globally. – siamii Aug 22 '11 at 16:13

2 Answers2

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This depends heavily, heavily on the jurisdiction you find yourself under. Consult a lawyer before moving ahead. Just as an example, in my jurisdiction (Gemany) it could already be interpreted as illegal to own such software, never mind use it, no matter whether for "good" or "evil". You think that is ridiculous? Well, so do most professionals - but that doesn't change the fact that you can't deal responsibly with liability without legal advice.

Kilian Foth
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  • If I live in UK but I'm from Easter Europe, which jurisdiction applies? Also, my software can be downloaded globally. – siamii Aug 22 '11 at 16:23
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    My limited experience says that you can be sued anywhere in the world, but it is unlikely that you will be extradited to actually stand trial for software authroship, so you're relatively safe unless you actually visit that country (remember Dmitri Sklyarov). However, if anyone *really* has it in for you, you can basically be extradited for almost any reason (remember Julian Assange). That's why it's **really really important** to have legal advice. – Kilian Foth Aug 22 '11 at 16:53
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As with most legal questions on this site, I would recommend contacting a lawyer.

We're simple programmers, not laywers :)

Rachel
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