Actually, here's a way you can be even more clear legally... Don't download/use WhatsApp yourself, rather have someone else use it, and then give you a copy of their SQLite database it produced.
You yourself only look at the SQLite database, and not the program. This is then essentially a clean-room scenario, you're just looking at your data file. -- Darren Duncan On 2015-06-29 3:19 PM, Darren Duncan wrote: > I think a WhatsApp database is analogous to a data file and falls outside the > concept of reverse engineering here. > > If say Microsoft Word had legalize against reverse-engineering it, a > reasonable > person wouldn't expect that to apply to reverse-engineering the format of MS > Word documents, rather just the program. > > At the very least, since WhatsApp databases store user data, it should be > reasonable to understand their structure in order that users can extract their > own data from them reliably. > > -- Darren Duncan > > On 2015-06-29 6:42 AM, John McKown wrote: >> On Sun, Jun 28, 2015 at 7:24 AM, <bob_sqlite at web.de> wrote: >> >>> Hi, >>> >>> I teach pupils SQL in school. >>> >>> I want to create exercises about the SQLite database of Whatsapp. >>> >>> Can you tell me the names of tables and the names of columns? >>> >>> For the tables, I'll think of data. >>> >>> Thank you, >>> >>> Bob >>> >> >> I'm going to go a bit sideways on this, I hope it is not objectionable. >> Have you contacted Whatsapp about this? I ask because on their web site at >> https://www.whatsapp.com/legal/, it specifically has legalese saying " >> (iii) you will not attempt to reverse engineer, alter or modify any part of >> the Service;" I am not any kind of a lawyer. But it _might_ be argued >> (similar to Oracle vs. Google on the Java API) that the schema of the >> SQLite data base is "part of the Service" and that, especially by using it >> for teaching purposes, you are "reverse engineering" it. Yes, likely a >> extreme position. But IP lawyers can be sharks. Just myself, personally, >> I'd contact Whatsapp and simply ask permission, perhaps explaining what you >> want to do and why you thought that their DB would be a good teaching >> scenario for your students. >> >> Again, I'm just trying urge caution in today's litigious society. I don't >> mean to imply that you are doing anything illegal or immoral (or fattening >> <grin/>).
