Jeff Voas' presentation (HTML) is available online as is his related paper (PDF).

Software certification suffers from a host of misconceptions and unsound practices. For example, certifying software solely based on a set of development process standards is dangerous and misleads consumers into believing that the software is of higher quality than can justifiably be assumed. Employing auditors to visit publisher sites and do process spot checks is also dangerous because auditors are often poorly trained, error prone, and will almost certainly not have enough time to dig into a publisher's documentation with any degree of thoroughness.

Unfortunately, these are the key approaches being considered for how software certification should someday occur. And in some areas, like firewall certification, these approaches are today being employed.

My comments will discuss why these models are fallible, untrustworthy, and describe a different procedure that although potentially unpopular (politically speaking), avoids these pitfalls and does provide concrete data that can warrant "limited software warranties."

Colleen Kotyk Vossler, "The Impact of the Uniform Computer Information Transactions Act (formerly proposed Article 2B of the Uniform Commercial Code) on Software Companies"

Colleen Vossler's presentation (HTML) is available online.

This presentation will focus on the legal liability that a software developer can incur, with particular emphasis on express and implied warranties that the developer may give. Tort and contract liability, as well as liability under the proposed Uniform Computer Information Transactions Act, will be explored. The purpose of the presentation is to foster an awareness among software developers regarding the potential pitfalls that arise in the marketing and sale of software programs.

Dan Hassett

Dan will talk about trends in legal liability and the purchasing of software and technology services as a result of the Year 2000. Dan will provide contracting tips and strategies when drafting development, reseller and integration agreements.

Previously, Mr. Hassett was with the law firm of Galland, Kharasch, Morse & Garfinkle in Washington, D.C. He is admitted to the District of Columbia and Massachusetts Bars. Prior to joining that firm, he was with Rackemann, Sawyer and Brewster in Boston, Massachusetts.

Mr. Hassett is a member of the Computer Law Association, the Information Technology Association of America, and the D.C. Bar Association. He received his law degree in 1989 from the University of Texas and graduated cum laude from Providence College in 1984.

Martha Lessman Katz, Esq. is Counsel in the Business Department of Miles & Stockbridge P.C. She brings substantial sophisticated experience in general corporate and business law to her practice devoted to advising clients on high technology issues, including system licensing and development, ownership, technology consulting services, year 2000 and doing business over the Internet. Most recently, as in-house counsel, Ms. Katz advised The St. Paul Companies after its acquisition of USF&G, on its high technology acquisitions and technology integration matters related to the merger. She is licensed to practice law in the States of California, Illinois, and Maryland as well as in the District of Columbia. Ms. Katz earned her law degree at Loyola University School of Law after earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science at Washington University in St. Louis where she was Phi Beta Kappa. She may be reached at mkatz@milesstockbridge.com.

Colleen Kotyk Vossler, Esq., practices Corporate and Technology Law as an associate with Miles & Stockbridge P.C. in Columbia, Maryland. Licensed to practice law in the State of Maryland, she also serves as a certified mediator in the Commonwealth of Virginia. She is currently co-authoring a chapter on software liability that will be published in the ADVANCES IN COMPUTING series in 2000. In addition, Ms. Vossler recently lectured on "The Legal Downside of Poor Assurance" at the International Software Assurance Certification Conference.

Ms. Vossler earned her A.B. cum laude in Government from Harvard College. Her senior thesis, "The Validity of Current Negotiation Practices: A Study of Legislative-Executive Branch Disputes Over Access to Information" received magna cum laude distinction. Ms. Vossler earned her law degree at the College of William & Mary School of Law where she ranked number one on William & Mary's National Moot Court Team and served as Student Note Editor of the WILLIAM & MARY BILL OF RIGHTS JOURNAL. Her 1997 treatise entitled "Tearing Down the House: Weakening the Foundation of Divorce Mediation Brick by Brick" won the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers Annual Law School Writing Competition Award. She has co-authored an article in THE JOURNAL FOR BANKRUPTCY LAW AND PRACTICE, entitled "To Be or Not to Be: The Undiscovered Country of Claims Estimation in Bankruptcy." The article explores the treatment and definition of claims in bankruptcy with particular focus on mass tort bankruptcy. Ms. Vossler is a member of the American Bar Association and the Maryland State Bar Association.

Jeffrey Voas is a Co-founder and Chief Scientist of Reliable Software Technologies. He is currently the principal investigator on research initiatives for DARPA, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, NASA-Ames, and the US Army Research Lab. Voas currently leads the Research Division at RST which has over $5 million in active research contracts and grants. Voas has also recently served as the Acting Director of Software Assurance Research at the Software Testing Assurance Corporation.

Voas is currently writing a book chapter on software liability for the "Advances in Computers" book series due out in 2000 (Academic Press). Voas is featured in the IEEE Reliability Society's video, "Developing Software for Safety-Critical Systems" (June 1998) and is organizing a new IEEE Reliability Society video, "Software Testing: Building Infrastructure, Due Diligence, and Java." Voas's current research interests include: information security metrics, software dependability metrics, software liability and certification, software safety and testing, mobile computing and agents, and information warfare tactics.

Before co-founding RST, Voas completed a two-year post-doctoral fellowship sponsored by the National Academy of Science atNASA's Langley Research Center. Voas served as a reviewer of the final report titled "Applications of Digital Instrumentation and Control Systems to Nuclear Power Plant Operations and Safety" for the National Academy of Science. Voas is currently a consultant to Raytheon on the FAA's Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS) Air Traffic Control project. In 1994, the Journal of Systems and Software ranked Voas 6th among the 15 top scholars in Systems and Software Engineering. Voas is a member of IEEE and received a Ph.D. in computer science from the College of William & Mary in 1990.