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Re: server hardware
> You are ALWAYS allowed to do whatever it is that you need to do to improve
> your property in any way that you see fit. If this implies reverse
AFAIK, none of the programs are your property. You aren't buying Windoze
(TM) code, but are buying license to use code. As such, license may
include any restrictions that wild imagination of corporate lawyer
recovering from yesterday's LSD-party would invent. No mass-marketed code
is sold - all is licensed. Only the custom-made programs are sold - and
then, surely, owner can modify it - it would be laughable to hire
programmers to do custom software and them have no right to mess with it.
Also, if you *own* piece of code - so that there's nobody between you and
the code - who then can modify it? Are they inventing new "legally
immutable" attribute for ext2? ;)
> engineering, don't tell anyone. The trick is that modifying a piece of
> hardware or software such that it serves a purpose for which it was not
> designed by its maker, is NOT reverse engineering. Look up reverse
> engineering's definition. You can always say that you used 20,000 Pentium
> chips making random mods on them until they started working in SMP
> config, because your chiropractor predicted that this would happen.
You may say. But the chances that judge would believe you are minimal.
It's like "he slipped on orange clip and fell on my knife, and so was 10
times"...
>
> Moreover, the legislation brought by that court is illegal in most
Court is a law in some countries, AFAIK. At least in some countries like
Britain and Israel, court decision becomes a "precedent", and new
decisions are based on it as if it was a law.
Disclaimer: I'm as far from being a lawyer as I can.
> > So much of "property ownership" :-(
>
> I want to see the day when you are forbidden to lift the hood on your
> car's engine compartment because it contains 'trade secrets'. Don't be so
> funny, you make me laugh.
You own the car. You do not own the software. At least, mass-marketed
software (as if you have money for custom-made). Because car is physical
object, which is physically transferred from previous owner to you when
sold. Software is different - basically, all software prices are fictional
and no real value transfer occures when you "buy" a program. Old concept
of "buying" (as in "I give you money - you give me a coffee and an apple
pie") is somewhat unfit for software sales.
However, "Warranty void if opened" is not uncommon...
> Just to drive a point home: The law you mentioned would make it illegal
> for an American government agency to reverse engineer or examine for
> example Russian software of whatsoever kind, including captured military
> stuff, in their own country. The crypto export stuff is bad enough as it
As if said American goverment agencies are too much troubled with the law.
Do you imagine Russian military factory suing CIA in DC District Court for
copyright infringements? They do things much worse than reverse
engineering, and noone can catch them.
> is, and now they had to add this. I am ROFL.
Well, I'm not. If I cannot download SSH client from US, or get SSL stuff
in my RedHat CD, this is bad. Both for US companies and for me. They loose
money, I loose service.
And then, they can invent and pass literally *any* law. If they want you
to register any run of any program in CIA - they would define program run as
"low-grade electronical weapons test" - it has electrons moving,
electricity can kill, computers are used in weapons systems, ask any
programmer, he does "tests" ten time a day - what else do you need, the
law is perfectly logical!
At least, not less than ITAR or french cryptography laws or Russian SORM.
>
> It would also make all Y2K mods required by software whose source is not
> available illegal. I could think of about 2000 other oopses related to
This will generate another wave of compliments to Open Source... Not bad
:))
--
frodo@sharat.co.il \/ There shall be counsels taken
Stanislav Malyshev /\ Stronger than Morgul-spells
phone +972-2-6245112 /\ JRRT LotR.
http://sharat.co.il/frodo/ whois:!SM8333