Quote:
Originally Posted by HarryT
Is reverse engineering really illegal in the US? It didn't use to be - "clone" PC makers reversed engineered the IBM PC's BIOS, for example. You just have to show that you're not copying any of the original code in doing so.
It's perfectly legal still to do this in the EU.
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Same same in the US. Except when it comes to reverse engineering to defeat encryption.
That specific activity is outlawed by the DMCA.
My considered opinion is that such a restriction is unconstitutional, and, of course, my opinion is worth
ever so much more than that of an actual lawyer, much less a Supreme Court justice.
I can't even
type that with a straight face
More seriously, the constitutionality of that portion of the DMCA has yet to be tested in court. Anyone care to place a bet in the lawsuit lottery? Remember, if you lose it's a serious felony!
Libprs500 itself is clearly OK on the reverse engineering front -- the parts kovid reverse engineered have nothing to do with encryption. Likewise, he's good on the "defeating encryption" part, as libprs500 only manages the conversion of non-DRM'd files.
The guys who figured out how to get convertlit to bust MS-Reader encryption, however, may have a problem. Or not. Depending on the outcome of that court case that hasn't happened; and whether they live in (or enter) US jurisdiction. And...
Xenophon
P.S. Note that the act of breaking the encryption for personal use remains entirely legal. Writing or producing a tool to do so violates the DMCA, as does telling someone else how to use or where to get such a tool. But if you can manage to just do it, you're fine.