There are things you buy out there that don't need Swiss quality because most people will simply not need the quality or won't have the money to pay for it.
I think the biggest problem isn't that a random webpage is sloppy, but when a critical system that could kill people is built the same way as the random webpage.
Near the point where things become minorly safety critical, people will blur the line. The point where safety kicks in moves a little further out, and we start blurring the lines again.
There’s a reason the FAA is anal-retentive about things with only very minor safety implications, like the in-flight entertainment system or turning on airplane mode. It helps prevent complacency where it actually really does matter.
You either do it the right way 100% of the time, or I’m not taking bets that you’ll do it right on a particular occasion.
> eventually I realized that if I didn't get things out of the door, my company would start losing money and I'd lose my job.
This is like 90% because most tech is different enough that civil torts don’t exist for them yet, so they don’t have to care.
Eg if Google deletes all your photos they kind of just shrug and you’re out of luck. If I deposited photos at a bank who burned them without notice or approval, they’re on the hook for that.
The law will eventually catch up and acknowledge that bits can have value. Then everyone will have to care again.
We track EVERY requirement to ensure it is met. Maybe it's a safety issue; maybe it's landscaping approvals (I work in Rail). Regardless, it's bigger $ if not caught up front, and if you start grading requirements on perceived risk, you start the slippery slope to not caring. Example: mark all landscaping requirements as "Not Critical". Then scheduled clearing of the right-of-way is missed. Then pedestrians are at risk with blocked line-of-sight, and trees might drop across the rail.
What that PE certification will check? That guy knows how to write unit tests? Well, that's not much. Who will write certification? Where's that genius, why he's hiding from the rest of us?
Maybe building is figured out. I don't know. I still see bridges failing and buildings crushed, so apparently it's not perfect. But I do know that programming is not figured out. Absolutely not. We can apply tremendous effort, pay billions and produce some simple firmware which can be uploaded to a martian rover. But that doesn't scale to the rest of industry.
Then when company forces a product to skip safety checks, test units. And the PE proves the did their but the company pushed forward, the company gets wide open to fines and lawsuits.
Make a company responsible and hit their bottom line, other will think twice before they say "just ship it, or I'll hire someone cheaper to do it". And no they don't say that, that's how it's done.
When your paycheck or livelihood is on the line, you tend to slowly sacrifice the principles.
I think your being short sighted here. And a aggressive for no reason.
The cost of "losing customer data" is too abstract for a company trying to survive financially. Corners will inevitably be cut.
Unless the costs to be suffered by the company for exposing private or sensitive information are made very clear through legislation.