[thelist] [OT] Gift Culture on the Net: A Rant

[aardvark]

> From: Dwayne <dwayne at iconys.com>
[...] 
> when we're talking about decrypting CF code, or decrypting/decompiling
> any piece of code to which you have access, we're not talking about
> theft, but about pulling something apart to see how it works. the
> entire idea that this might be wrong is a very new one. until
> recently, it was impossible to prevent someone from taking a working
> thing apart to see what made it tick, so the ethical question of
> whether you should never really came up.

every piece of shareware, freeware, and payware (postcardware, 
wifeware, etc.) has some sort of license agreement...

if the license agreement prohibits reverse engineering it, or 
otherwise deconstructing it, then you are in the wrong to use the 
decrypt function on it...

it really *is* that simple...

and rudy made a good point earlier -- did the original poster even 
try to contact the author to see if he could get the source?

i know i've given away much of the code on projects that i 
otherwise wouldn't allow to be reverse-engineered... all somebody 
had to do was ask...