On Saturday 14 January 2006 21:33, Karol Krizka wrote: > On Saturday 14 January 2006 17:36, Jim Powers wrote: > > On Saturday 14 January 2006 20:02, Håkan Wikström wrote: > > > > I hope there's some hope; I REALLY want the card reader working. I > > > > don't understand why the person, who cracked the encryption (yah, > > > > it's been cracked!) doesn't want to post the source code. It's 100% > > > > legal to do so; source code is considered freedom of speech, so > > > > nobody can complain. > > > > > > Could you please point us to any evidence that the firmware has been > > > cracked? As far as I know the firmware loader (which supposedly works) > > > was made with legal access to the unencrypted firmware. I assume the > > > one who wrote the loader (I'm too lazy to look it up - search the > > > archives if you really want it) was under an NDA. > > > > Well, starting here: > > > > http://prinsig.se/weekee/index.php/Media_reader_(hw) > > > > It appears that somebody either had access to the encoding algorithm > > (perhaps under NDA) or cracked it. Either way it doesn't matter. This > > well healed hacker will either be sued for breech of contract or sued for > > violation of the f**king DMCA. Either way we cannot have at it. > > > > It appears that there are some hardware docs available but nobody is sure > > that these docs are sufficient to write a driver for this piece of > > hardware. > > > > Now since this guys has already written a firmware loader for this puppy > > it would be trivial for TI to release an unencrypted piece of firmware > > (better yet, the source for the firmware) for we non-Windows folks to use > > this hardware. > > > > As per usual with the world these days: The laptop I'm typing on is MINE! > > It is MY property. If I want to throw it off a cliff that is my > > prerogative. But the dual conspiracies of gutless hardware manufactures > > and the DMCA not only makes it impossible (or nearly so) for me to > > actually USE all of the hardware contained within this piece of property > > of mine, it actually makes it ILLEGAL for me to even TRY to do so. > > > > I really wish the rest of the world would "get" the fact that they are > > being so royally screwed by hardware manufactures in cahoots with > > Microsoft to essentially eliminate your rights as a the owner of a > > certain piece of hardware to run the software you choose. > > Does anyone know what the legal status of this is in other countries?
Well it depends on what the circumstance is under which the code was written for the decoder. If the code was written under NDA, then it's a no-go. The author cannot release the code without TI's approval. If the firmware was "cracked" then it's a DMCA-related issue. Several countries have DMCA-like laws on the books. I think one of them is Canada. I don't think the EU has anything, yet, but DMCA-like legislation is "in the pipe" (I could be wrong about this, I periodically dip back into this whole issue, but I haven't done so in a while now, it does very bad things to my blood pressure). So, if you're planning on cracking the firmware someplace where something like the DMCA is not in place I think that you're ok. If course IANAL ;-) . I don't know what the disposition of the cracked firmware would be if it were made available back here in US Inc., I think it might be considered contraband. Jim Powers _______________________________________________ LinuxR3000 mailing list [email protected] http://lists.pcxperience.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/linuxr3000 Wiki at http://prinsig.se/weekee/
