Ask HN: Legal question – liability for printed card deck of computer pranks

3 points

3 years ago

I am teaching my daughter how to code, and now I am running various pranks on her computer. For example, every time you alt+tab there is a weird beep sound, or the computer randomly restarts every 10 minutes, or after 10 minutes in Minecraft the keyboard presses 'W' for 3 seconds, or I move her mouse remotely and etc... (some are extremely evil, like stopping half the internet 128.0.0.0/1 or 0.0.0.0/1 every 10 minutes for 3 seconds)

I made a whole deck of cards (each prank fits on one playing card): https://github.com/jackdoe/programming-for-kids/blob/master/projects/panic/cards-small.pdf

I sell the decks for 5€ (e.g.: https://punkx.org/c-pointer-game/ or https://punkx.org/punk0/) but for this one, I am not even sure what kind of lawyer should I talk to, to make sure I am not liable if a user of the deck damages someone's computer. I also aded epilepsy warning on the cards that are very visual (like randomly rotating the screen 90 degrees).

The deck is also licensed CC BY 4.0, so anyone can re-print it, and are the people printing it and sharing it liable as well? The warning I have now is made by me and you can see it on the first card, but I will also paste it here:

    WARNING! WARING! WARNING!
    
    USE THE CODE FROM THESE CARDS AT YOUR
    OWN RISK. THESE PRANKS ARE PURELY FOR
    EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES AND ARE NOT
    INTENDED TO CAUSE HARM. THE AUTHOR OF
    THIS DECK IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY
    DAMAGE, LOSS OF DATA, OR OTHER
    CONSEQUENCES THAT MAY ARISE FROM THE USE
    OF THESE PRANKS.
    
    BY USING THESE PRANKS, YOU ACKNOWLEDGE
    THAT YOU ARE FULLY AWARE OF THE
    CONSEQUENCES OF YOUR ACTIONS AND THAT
    YOU UNDERSTAND THE CODE ON THESE
    CARDS. IF YOU ARE UNDER 18 YEARS OLD,
    YOU MUST OBTAIN THE CONSENT OF YOUR
    PARENT OR LEGAL GUARDIAN BEFORE USING
    THESE PRANKS.
    
    BY USING THESE PRANKS, YOU AGREE TO
    RELEASE AND HOLD HARMLESS THE AUTHOR OF
    THIS DECK FROM ANY CLAIMS, DEMANDS, OR
    DAMAGES, WHETHER KNOWN OR UNKNOWN,
    ARISING OUT OF OR IN ANY WAY CONNECTED
    WITH YOUR USE OF THESE PRANKS.

Any advice will be super helpful, I really think the pranks are very fun and educational if used properly, but like any prank it can go too far.

Thanks in advance.

EDIT: Forgot to say, I am in The Netherlands, but send decks worldwide, not sure if that matters when selling physical products online

5 comments

WARNING! WARING! WARNING! USE THE CODE FROM THESE CARDS AT YOUR OWN RISK. THESE PRANKS ARE PURELY FOR EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES AND ARE NOT INTENDED TO CAUSE HARM. THE AUTHOR OF THIS DECK IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DAMAGE, LOSS OF DATA, OR OTHER CONSEQUENCES THAT MAY ARISE FROM THE USE OF THESE PRANKS. BY USING THESE PRANKS, YOU ACKNOWLEDGE THAT YOU ARE FULLY AWARE OF THE CONSEQUENCES OF YOUR ACTIONS AND THAT YOU UNDERSTAND THE CODE ON THESE CARDS. IF YOU ARE UNDER 18 YEARS OLD, YOU MUST OBTAIN THE CONSENT OF YOUR PARENT OR LEGAL GUARDIAN BEFORE USING THESE PRANKS. BY USING THESE PRANKS, YOU AGREE TO RELEASE AND HOLD HARMLESS THE AUTHOR OF THIS DECK FROM ANY CLAIMS, DEMANDS, OR DAMAGES, WHETHER KNOWN OR UNKNOWN, ARISING OUT OF OR IN ANY WAY CONNECTED WITH YOUR USE OF THESE PRANKS.