[Gllug] [Fwd: Response to your correspondence regarding the draft EU directive on patentability of computer-implemented inventions.]

[Richard Jones]

On Thu, Jul 17, 2003 at 07:22:23PM +0100, Anthony Chapman wrote:
> On Wed, 2003-07-16 at 16:12, Richard Jones wrote:
> > ----- Forwarded message from Arlene McCarthy <arlenemccarthymep at yahoo.co.uk> -----
> > Furthermore, the amended directive contains new provisions on decompilation that will assist software developers.
> 
> Does anyone know whats going on here? Will this "help" mean a law that
> bans reverse engineering even when needed for compatibility, and maybe
> even (accidentally) bans debugging tools? Am I being too cynical or are
> the likes of samba, decss, and openoffice all under threat?
> 
> I really hope I'm wrong about this.

It does seem remarkably unlikely that new laws will "assist software
developers". More likely they will proscribe exactly what you can and
cannot do; a great shame. I learned a huge amount about computers in
the early days by disassembling the ZX81 ROM. Luckily there's not much
you can do to actually stop people disassembling and decompiling
software, and freenet may provide a way to disseminate this
information safely.

Rich.

-- 
Richard Jones. http://www.annexia.org/ http://freshmeat.net/users/rwmj
Merjis Ltd. http://www.merjis.com/ - all your business data are belong to you.
 All new technology is irrelevant until it is taken up by the public.

-- 
Gllug mailing list  -  Gllug at linux.co.uk
http://list.ftech.net/mailman/listinfo/gllug