I'm far from suggesting that companies should publish their code for everyone to see, but one thing seems a little bit absurd. We require companies to have their financials audited by independent auditors, but we don't require any independent audits of their software which has potential to affect people's lives.

Software will determine more and more aspects of our lives and we probably should shift our mindsets of what areas should be regulated or audited.

There's lot of audit requirements in several areas which are intended to keep customers and the environment safe. If you want to manufacture food, you need to comply with food safety regulations and you will be subject to audits in this area. If you want to manufacture pharmaceuticals, there's long list of requirements and checks which are required. Even if you want to manufacture a simple electronic device with some wireless communication, you need to have it cleared by FCC. The list goes on. But nobody cares for your software. You can be as malicious or as incompetent as possible and you're allowed to sell products with software features or bugs which could take people's lives. Nobody will care until there's something wrong.

The mindset here stayed in the 80s when software was considered spreadsheets and similar stuff and not that important for real life. We got our food, drugs, electronics and other safety regulations. In the age of software eating the world perhaps it is time to think about software audit regulations.