If you give away toilets for free, it's your responsibility to make sure they aren't lined with sodium and will blow up after the first flush. If you give away a toilet for free, you are an asshole if you know it has a huge hidden hole and you don't warn takers about it. If you write a piece of software that claims to be doing something, but it actually contains malware, then you are violating the law (as much as when you give me a nice statue that contains a spy camera).
It has never been possible or allowed to give just anything you want away for free, without you being liable in any way. That hasn't changed with software and no license in the world can exempt you from certain basic responsibilities concerning your 'gift'.
Now my point is not that this is the case here or that such cases are common or even important. The point is that the blanket statement of my parent is plainly false.
Of course, IANAL, but you don't need to be a lawyer to understand jurisprudence. There are plenty of known cases where people intentionally harmed others and tried to plead guilty based on not actually performing the action that lead to the damage. It doesn't fly.
See also: http://enfranchisedmind.com/blog/posts/fyi-my-open-source-us...