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Ask HN: Take down my reverse-engineered Snapchat lib because they asked?

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Re: Ask HN: Take down my reverse-engineered Snapchat lib because they asked?

#12

Post by mattmaroon »

simias wrote: post #7
untog wrote: post #5

Ignore 99% of the responses in this thread, particularly any that say "I think...", "It seems fair...", and so on. You're in a legal situation here, if you are worried, contact a lawyer.

I think he's asking for moral, not legal advice.

Asking for moral advice when you need legal advice isn't a good idea. The two are often conflicting.

Re: Ask HN: Take down my reverse-engineered Snapchat lib because they asked?

#13

Post by cjbprime »

There's no "fair use" defense because they aren't asserting a plain copyright violation -- they're asserting that using their API is a DMCA violation. I'm not a lawyer, but this seems laugh-out-loud crazy of them, and I'm not aware of anyone trying that claim before.

So if you want to resist, you could start there: by finding out (possibly by asking a lawyer to talk to them) how they think your tool is acting to "descramble a scrambled work, decrypt an encrypted work, (or equivalent actions)". If you want to do this, you might consider reaching out to the EFF for help.

Morally, I think you're in the clear for the reason you already gave.

Re: Ask HN: Take down my reverse-engineered Snapchat lib because they asked?

#14

Post by angersock »

I considered forking this, but how about doing the bastards one better?

You've already got a client library written--why not go ahead and post up a conforming backend as well? If you want, shoot me an email with your doc'ed API, and I'll shoot you back (gimme a week--things on fire right now) a simple Sinatra mockup.

Clean room all the things!

EDIT:

For an idea of a quick hack of this variety, see my work from last week -- https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6065652

Re: Ask HN: Take down my reverse-engineered Snapchat lib because they asked?

#17

Post by venomsnake »

I hate to play devil's advocate here (especially since I already have a post here) but I had a thought. For Snapchat some of the biggest selling points are the self destruct abilities of the media sent. So an unauthorized client puts a stake trough the heart of that claim (and the company). I see why they may be worried, but I think that they should have communicated their concerns more clearly and pleading, and not intimidating.

Re: Ask HN: Take down my reverse-engineered Snapchat lib because they asked?

#19

Post by Plutor »

cjbprime wrote: post #13

There's no "fair use" defense because they aren't asserting a plain copyright violation -- they're asserting that using their API is a DMCA violation. I'm not a lawyer, but this seems laugh-out-loud crazy of them, and I'm not aware of anyone trying that claim before. So if you want to resist, you could start there: by finding out (possibly by asking a lawyer to talk to them) how they think your tool is acting to "des…

It may be dumb, but it's not laugh-out-loud crazy. In fact, it's specifically one of the things that the DMCA does. Here's a whole ton of information about the law: http://chillingeffects.org/reverse/faq.cgi

And here's an article from the EFF with a few citations of cases where DMCA article 1201 has been used: https://www.eff.org/es/wp/unintended-consequences-under-dmca

Re: Ask HN: Take down my reverse-engineered Snapchat lib because they asked?

#20

Post by petsos »

mattmaroon wrote: post #12
simias wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think he's asking for moral, not legal advice.

Asking for moral advice when you need legal advice isn't a good idea. The two are often conflicting.

Save the lecturing, you don't know if he needs legal advice. Maybe he has already gotten legal advice.
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