How responsible is the vendor of a crypto-enabled product?

[Roy M. Silvernail]

I got into an interesting conversation today.  Here's the question:  if 
a vendor rolls out a net-enabled product that features a crypto-
secured interface, what kind of liability do they face if the interface 
security is breached?  In particular, we were discussing machine 
controls and the recent incident where it was discovered that one 
manufacturer was fielding a GPIB control card with TCP/IP 
Ethernet and no security at all. 

If a net-connected and secured machine were hacked and death or 
personal injury resulted, does that make the manufacturer an 
accessory to manslaughter?  Would having a provably good (or 
provably bad) security layer mitigate this?
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Roy M. Silvernail
Proprietor, scytale.com
roy at scytale.com