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Licensing Developers?

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Renegade:
Just musing here, but I'm kind of curious as to when developers will need to have a license to write code. Given the way things are, it kind of seems inevitable. The NSA is laying off 90% of their sysadmins, which tells you a bit, or hints at a few things. At a minimum it says that sysadmins have a lot of power.

A lot of occupations require licenses. Here are a few:


* Lawyers
* Doctors
* Teachers
* Makeup artists
* Security guards
* House painters
* Florists (well, only in Louisiana)
* Accountants
* Home theater installers
* Dishwasher installers
* Barbers
* Manicurists
* Travel guides
* Bartenders
* Locksmiths
* Tree trimmers
* Taxi drivers
And many other professions are all highly regulated and require licenses, so why not require regulation and licensing for developers? Seems like a(n) (un)natural step.

A recent story from Techdirt outlines how Sen. Lindsay Graham wants to strip bloggers of their first amendment rights:

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130606/04161823338/senator-lindsey-graham-apparently-not-sure-if-bloggers-deserve-first-amendment-protection.shtml

Senator Lindsey Graham Apparently Not Sure If Bloggers Deserve 'First Amendment Protection'
--- End quote ---

So if bloggers don't have a right to free speech, why should developers?

And if arranging flowers is dangerous enough to require licensing, well, I think that software development certainly qualifies.

If you think about it, it would be fantastic for large software houses. They wouldn't have to compete with small developers. They could lobby to have all kinds of regulations and fees that would preclude small developers from writing and distributing software. It would boost the value of their stocks and make their share holders very happy.

No more indie-games and an instant double-digit surge in stock prices for EA and other big companies.

Microsoft and Apple could stand to benefit. Imagine if all GPL software were banned from use in government. MS, Apple, Google, Oracle, etc., would have an instant sales bonanza. They could hike prices even.

They could also then afford to hire those small developers even cheaper as they could claim that it was expensive to train and license them in order to comply with regulations.

But I don't know how long it will take.

5 years?
10 years?
More?

I'm having a hard time seeing a down-side here. ;)

Vurbal:
Typically the kind of regulation you're describing doesn't happen as a result of government overreach on their own behalf, but rather as a protectionism for some industry to limit competition. That's not because there aren't advocates for that kind of overreach for its own sake. Obviously there always are. It's simply because it's usually easier to rally the public behind such a naked power grab.

OTOH if you can confuse the issue enough to make even a specious public safety argument your chances of controlling the debate increase exponentially.

Renegade:
OTOH if you can confuse the issue enough to make even a specious public safety argument your chances of controlling the debate increase exponentially.
-Vurbal (August 12, 2013, 12:31 AM)
--- End quote ---

Hey! Computers are responsible for traffic lights and software is used in cars! This *IS* a safety issue!

How many people have died due to bugs in GPS software leading them astray and stranded in the middle of nowhere without food and water!

SOFTWARE BUGS KILL!

If we can save just 1 life, it's worth spending the $100,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000.00 it takes to make sure that we have competent developers that NEVER create buggy software and NEVER put anyone's life in jeopardy.

THINK OF THE CHILDREN!

You're so callous and heartless!

;)

wraith808:
Just musing here, but I'm kind of curious as to when developers will need to have a license to write code.
-Renegade (August 11, 2013, 11:12 PM)
--- End quote ---

You already do to an extent under certain circumstances.  When working for a company, you don't- it's the company that assumes the risk.  But once you you're not 1040, you have to have a whole lot of things that while not really a license, they are, in effect, the same sort of thing- an assurance that you are responsible for your code.

Think about it:
Liability Insurance
Escrowed Code
W-9

And having been on both sides of the equation, I can tell you that those three things are a big part of the business.

Renegade:
"to an extent"?

"under certain circumstances"?

Pfft... Guess we know wraith isn't thinking of the children!

Baby killer!

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