Boeing's Statement On My "Malicious Code" Story

Just got this response from Boeing to my report on the controversial "malicious code" clause in the P-8I contract. This is a statement from Dr Vivek Lall Vice, President and India Country Head, Boeing Integrated Defense Systems. Here it is:

In your story, "Is Indo-US plane deal a compromise?" (India Today, Sept 11), you leave readers with the impression that a "potentially explosive clause" in the contract India signed for the purchase of eight Boeing P-8I aircraft will allow an unnamed US entity to inject malicious code into the aircraft operating software. In fact, the purpose of the clause is quite the opposite. The malicious code clause, signed by Boeing with full concurrence, intentionally protects India against injection of any malicious software that could inhibit the desired and designed function of the equipment, or cause it physical damage. The Government of India stipulated the requirement, and by signing the contract, Boeing is agreeing it will not include, nor allow third parties to include any malicious software in the delivered system. Boeing has passed this requirment down to our suppliers. Boeing takes this contractual requirement extremely seriously as our company reputation and operation demands the highest ethical behavior. [STATEMENT ENDS]

However, the report on Headlines Today more to do with the following excerpt from the contract:

"In the event of nonconformance or defect attributed to malicious code, Buyer’s sole and exclusive remedy is to require Seller to modify the hardware and/or software to remove the malicious code or to replace the malicious code with code that is not malicious code."

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