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SecretMethod70 · 10-18-2004, 10:01 PM

Most software licenses explicitly prohibit reverse engineering. Furthermore, hardware reverse engineering is illegal in most countries.

If all software were to be, in some degree, open-source, it would not be difficult to monitor. In fact, it would, again, be easy enough to monitor it yourself, or with the help of a private organization - say, the EFF for example.

All open source means is that one has access to the source code, so it's a simple question. Can you get the source and compile the program yourself? Yes or no. If the answer is no, the software maker is in violation. If the answer is yes, they are not. This is not really a difficult thing to monitor at all and would not require any significant amount of resources.

No, not everyone would be able to make SENSE of the source code, but that's to be expected. The fact one could take apart the cotton gin to try and figure out how it worked didn't mean that everyone who did so would have enough knowledge to figure it out. But that that did could do so and improve upon it.

10-18-2004, 10:01 PM	#43 (permalink)
SecretMethod70 Human Administrator Location: Chicago	Most software licenses explicitly prohibit reverse engineering. Furthermore, hardware reverse engineering is illegal in most countries. If all software were to be, in some degree, open-source, it would not be difficult to monitor. In fact, it would, again, be easy enough to monitor it yourself, or with the help of a private organization - say, the EFF for example. All open source means is that one has access to the source code, so it's a simple question. Can you get the source and compile the program yourself? Yes or no. If the answer is no, the software maker is in violation. If the answer is yes, they are not. This is not really a difficult thing to monitor at all and would not require any significant amount of resources. No, not everyone would be able to make SENSE of the source code, but that's to be expected. The fact one could take apart the cotton gin to try and figure out how it worked didn't mean that everyone who did so would have enough knowledge to figure it out. But that that did could do so and improve upon it. __________________ Le temps détruit tout "Musicians are the carriers and communicators of spirit in the most immediate sense." - Kurt Elling Last edited by SecretMethod70; 10-18-2004 at 10:07 PM..