From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S261921AbTD0XCt (ORCPT ); Sun, 27 Apr 2003 19:02:49 -0400 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id S261927AbTD0XCt (ORCPT ); Sun, 27 Apr 2003 19:02:49 -0400 Received: from pc2-cwma1-4-cust86.swan.cable.ntl.com ([213.105.254.86]:36750 "EHLO lxorguk.ukuu.org.uk") by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S261921AbTD0XCs (ORCPT ); Sun, 27 Apr 2003 19:02:48 -0400 Subject: Re: Why DRM exists [was Re: Flame Linus to a crisp!] From: Alan Cox To: Matthew Kirkwood Cc: Larry McVoy , Linux Kernel Mailing List In-Reply-To: References: Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Organization: Message-Id: <1051481778.15485.38.camel@dhcp22.swansea.linux.org.uk> Mime-Version: 1.0 X-Mailer: Ximian Evolution 1.2.2 (1.2.2-5) Date: 27 Apr 2003 23:16:19 +0100 Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org On Llu, 2003-04-28 at 00:08, Matthew Kirkwood wrote: > > And government if it is smart will reply by enforcing reverse > > engineering rights *for compatibility* (not cloning), or business (the > > surviving bits anyway) will figure it out and do it themselves. > > Alan -- could you please explain what you see as the real > differences between reverse engineering for "compatibility" > and for "cloning"? > > It isn't obvious to me that there is a line-in-the-sand. Oh indeed it is not. Have a look at EU reverse engineering law and caselaw if you are really that curious to see where the line lands (I'm not). A lot of it depends how you define "a product". Writing a tool to extract BK repositories into an open format (ok except that BK is basically already in an open format at the moment but suppose it changed..) would be an obvious example. You might however get your backside kicked if you had people reverse engineer BK and then write a copy of it. It isnt entirely that complex: Are a laser printer and its ink cartridge two products, or a mobile phone and its battery ? Alan