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This is a blog post that outlines the history of reverse engineering in the technology industry, and comments on some of its implications today. With increasing legal challenges from the DMCA – a law that (among other things) prohibits reverse engineering of any technology meant to limit access, it is interesting to recognize what reverse engineering can and has accomplished for us.
The first two examples of reverse engineering that the article gives are open source projects. The ability of open source developers to reverse engineer the competing instant messaging clients developed by internet companies like Yahoo, AOL, and Microsoft has had a dual effect – firstly, the article points out, it has allowed innovation by letting third-party developers (open source or otherwise) to create hybrid programs that bridge the inherent gaps in these incompatible protocols. Additionally, the presence of quality open source messaging software has helped to further the legitimacy of open source platforms such as Linux.
The second example is that of Samba, an open source program that allows Microsoft Windows based file sharing services to be both hosted on or accessed by any number of platforms. Because of Samba, users of Apple’s Mac OS X or Linux can interoperate with Microsoft Windows networks. The article points out that this has (also) lent legitimacy to Linux as a platform and helped it to compete in a world of proprietary standards.
The first two examples of reverse engineering that the article gives are open source projects. The ability of open source developers to reverse engineer the competing instant messaging clients developed by internet companies like Yahoo, AOL, and Microsoft has had a dual effect – firstly, the article points out, it has allowed innovation by letting third-party developers (open source or otherwise) to create hybrid programs that bridge the inherent gaps in these incompatible protocols. Additionally, the presence of quality open source messaging software has helped to further the legitimacy of open source platforms such as Linux.
The second example is that of Samba, an open source program that allows Microsoft Windows based file sharing services to be both hosted on or accessed by any number of platforms. Because of Samba, users of Apple’s Mac OS X or Linux can interoperate with Microsoft Windows networks. The article points out that this has (also) lent legitimacy to Linux as a platform and helped it to compete in a world of proprietary standards.
belongs to Renegades in the Land of Copyright. project
tagged computers decss dvd free_software instant_messaging linux open_source oss samba software by haw ...on 28-NOV-06
tagged computers decss dvd free_software instant_messaging linux open_source oss samba software by haw ...on 28-NOV-06
Simons,B . "To DVD or Not to DVD" Communications of the ACM [0001-0782] 42.5 (1999). 31-.
This article outlines the tremendous obstacle presented to users of technology by the content-owning industry. Although the article is fairly short in length, it outlines the challenges posed by the DMCA and the entertainment lobby in general. It outlines the fallout from the release of DeCSS, the controversial program that allows users to break content encryption on DVDs. While DeCSS certainly has illegal uses, its released proved to be a boon to the open source community, as it allowed DVDs to be played on Linux.
Because of the decentralized nature of the open source movement uses of technology that require strict licenses is necessarily limited as there is no governing body to obtain and regulate use of licenses. This is especially true with licenses that prohibit disclosure of the underlying technology, as does the license from the DVD Copy Control Association. As a result of this, the extremely aggressive legal tactics of the content-owning industry pose a potential threat to the ability to choose what computer software to use, although it is interesting to note that it’s not clear that they have actually posed any hindrance to the open source movement.
Because of the decentralized nature of the open source movement uses of technology that require strict licenses is necessarily limited as there is no governing body to obtain and regulate use of licenses. This is especially true with licenses that prohibit disclosure of the underlying technology, as does the license from the DVD Copy Control Association. As a result of this, the extremely aggressive legal tactics of the content-owning industry pose a potential threat to the ability to choose what computer software to use, although it is interesting to note that it’s not clear that they have actually posed any hindrance to the open source movement.
belongs to Renegades in the Land of Copyright. project
tagged computers copy_protection decss dmca dvd free_software linux open_source oss software by haw ...on 28-NOV-06
tagged computers copy_protection decss dmca dvd free_software linux open_source oss software by haw ...on 28-NOV-06