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French Court Allows Reverse Engineering of Skype Protocol

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Re: French Court Allows Reverse Engineering of Skype Protocol

#51

Post by bsaul »

marincounty wrote: post #9
username42 wrote: post #3

Sometimes, we can be proud to be french ;-) For interoperability purpose, "reverse engineering is a legal practice, and that the distribution of software using a protocol found in this way is not illegal"

I have no problems with your country. Any country that ties traffic infractions to income is fine with me. I heard most of your schooling is free to? The French have a lot we(USA) should look into.

Yeap, they're basically free and it shows. Most universities have buildings that make you feel like living in a post-apocalyptic world.

Re: French Court Allows Reverse Engineering of Skype Protocol

#52

Post by nraynaud »

panzi wrote: post #42
nraynaud wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a bit more complicated, you can reverse-engineer if the company is not willing to give the protocol, for interoperability purpose only and you are not allowed to publish the raw information you obtained during the reverse, but only a new interoperable product. Journalistic treatment has probably distorted the facts so someone should probably go read the actual decision.

What do you mean by "raw information"? Can you publish a detailed protocol specification?

Here is a rough translation, I'm sorry to tell that I have a hard time parsing the original in the context of OSS too.

IV. The reproduction of the code of the software or the translation of the shape of the code is not subject to the author's authorization when the reproduction or translation in the sense of 1° and 2° of article L. 122-6 is essential to get the information necessary to the interoperability of an independently created software with other softwares provided the following conditions are met:

1) those actions are fulfilled by the person with the right to use one copy of the software or on his behalf by someone empowered to this end;

2) the informations needed for interoperability have not been easily and quickly available to the people mentioned at 1° above;

3) and those actions are limited to the part of the original software needed to this interoperabilty

The information obtained this way [disassembly] shall not be:

1) Neither used for any other purpose than interoperability of the independently created software

2) Neither communicated to thirds parties unless that is necessary for the interoperability of the independently created software

3) Neither used for development, production or sale of a software whose expression is substantially similar or for any other act infringing the author's copyright

Re: French Court Allows Reverse Engineering of Skype Protocol

#53

Post by nraynaud »

fulafel wrote: post #48
nraynaud wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a bit more complicated, you can reverse-engineer if the company is not willing to give the protocol, for interoperability purpose only and you are not allowed to publish the raw information you obtained during the reverse, but only a new interoperable product. Journalistic treatment has probably distorted the facts so someone should probably go read the actual decision.

Huh, what law would you break by publishing the reverse engineered details? They're not protected by copyright or patents. Do you mean it's possible for a court to uphold some license or contract terms where you promised not to do it?

I guess that would be Code de la propriété intellectuelle - Article L122-6-1

Re: French Court Allows Reverse Engineering of Skype Protocol

#54

Post by cb_ru »

kleiba wrote: post #16
macmac wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are many reasons to be proud to be French, but since the French law is just an implementation of an EU directive this is hardly one of them.

Frankly, I never understood why anyone should be proud because they happen to be of a certain nationality.

Will you be proud of your children sometimes? Because they could have been born in any family in the world...

Re: French Court Allows Reverse Engineering of Skype Protocol

#55

Post by bpizzi »

jefm wrote: post #46
bpizzi wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

French school isn't free, you're just basically paying it afterwards, threw many taxes including personnal income based taxes.

I'm french and paying taxes so that all children - including those from underprivileged environments - have, at least in theory, access to a free education is one thing I'm quite proud of.

Who said you should have not to be proud? Proudness apart, your school is still not "free, as in beer".

Re: French Court Allows Reverse Engineering of Skype Protocol

#56

Post by devx »

Didn't Microsoft basically reverse engineer Google's Youtube API's to make that WP8 Youtube app? I wonder if Google will consider integrating a reverse engineered Skype into Hangouts. Not that I'm particularly excited myself about joining a fully spied upon chat service, but it would be an interesting move.

Re: French Court Allows Reverse Engineering of Skype Protocol

#57

Post by macmac »

username42 wrote: post #19
macmac wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are many reasons to be proud to be French, but since the French law is just an implementation of an EU directive this is hardly one of them.

I think the EU directive has been much influenced by the CNIL and the preexisting french laws. The CNIL ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CNIL ) was very influencial 20 years ago. It has lost most of its power now, but its main results remain.

My understanding is that CNIL works/worked on data privacy issues, which does not appear to be related to the issue of reverse engineering. You might be thinking about the Directive on Privacy and Electronic Communications (2002/58) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Directive_on_Privacy_and_Electr....

Re: French Court Allows Reverse Engineering of Skype Protocol

#58

Post by jefm »

bpizzi wrote: post #55
jefm wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm french and paying taxes so that all children - including those from underprivileged environments - have, at least in theory, access to a free education is one thing I'm quite proud of.

Who said you should have not to be proud? Proudness apart, your school is still not "free, as in beer".

You didn't say that, as actually I'm not proud of anything related to nationality (it was a reference to the first post in the thread). What I meant is that in the particular case of the education system, the contribution system you mentioned allows socially deprived people to actually access the education system for free, as in beer.

Re: French Court Allows Reverse Engineering of Skype Protocol

#59

Post by hrktb »

shin_lao wrote: post #50
kleiba wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Frankly, I never understood why anyone should be proud because they happen to be of a certain nationality.

Why is it so strange to be proud of the blessings of good fortune? If you are born beautiful, can't you be proud of it? If you are part of an ancient and rich civilization, can't you be proud of it?

I guess if you are ancient and rich you could be proud of it . If your papers say you were born in an ancient and rich group but you're none, what should you be proud of ?

It really boils down to you as an individual vs the country you are enlisted in.

Re: French Court Allows Reverse Engineering of Skype Protocol

#60

Post by alkonaut »

kleiba wrote: post #16
macmac wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are many reasons to be proud to be French, but since the French law is just an implementation of an EU directive this is hardly one of them.

Frankly, I never understood why anyone should be proud because they happen to be of a certain nationality.

It's not pride of being born at a certain location (that's coincidence), It's pride to be part of a community (state, city, organization, ...) that makes good, rational decisions. Like how you can be proud if you live in a country with a sensible healthcare system or patent system, or proud to work at a company with good policies and a healty work environment.
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