Is it okay to rollback code if your client refuses to pay you?

Posted by JustinY on Programmers See other posts from Programmers or by JustinY
Published on 2012-09-20T15:42:43Z Indexed on 2012/09/20 21:52 UTC
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freelancing

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legal

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ethics

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contract

A friend of mine did some contracting work to add localization support to an existing mobile app. He was not contracted to add any other features or fix any already existing bugs. He has finished his work, but the client refuses to pay him because of an already existing bug that he hasn't fixed. The only card my friend has left is to rollback the server code to the state it was before he began working, which will probably break the mobile app and hopefully force the client's hand. Is this legal? Is there a better way to handle the situation?

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