Universal drive

From: Eric Smith <eric_at_brouhaha.com>
Date: Fri Oct 2 18:37:04 1998

>> This is one of those things that would be good if it was
>> reverse-engineered, would Symantec be pursuaded to release the specs or
>> allow reverse-engineering? If it were possible to get the specs, you could
>> copy just about anything with one of these, I've had no reliability

> With that stupid IP law Congress just passed, it's probably illegal now.

AFAIK, it hasn't come out of conference committee yet. But even when
it is signed into law, I have no intention of ceasing my various reverse-
engineering projects. Seems like a great form of civil disobedience to
me.

Anyhow, the law only bans reverse-engineering of copyright protection
systems, although it doesn't define exactly what a copyright protection
system is, so I suppose that manufacturers of computer hardware and software
can claim that the unavailability of specifications and source code is
copyright protection of their designs.

Damn their scaly hides!
Received on Fri Oct 02 1998 - 18:37:04 BST