Path: chuka.playstation.co.uk!news From: daniel@reichardt.ch (Daniel Hartmeier) Newsgroups: scee.yaroze.freetalk.english Subject: Re: 'reverse engineering' the OT Date: Sat, 29 May 1999 09:37:34 GMT Organization: Reichardt Informatik AG Lines: 33 Message-ID: <3751b1d0.8086377@news.playstation.co.uk> References: <374eff4b.2460152@www.netyaroze-europe.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: dial-in-68.magnet.ch Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Newsreader: Forte Agent 1.5/32.451 On Fri, 28 May 1999 20:42:46 GMT, yaroze@theburrow.co.uk (Barry & Robert Swan) wrote: > there was a discussion a while ago about the idea of being able to > directly manipulate the packets in the workbase. Legally it was deemed > a breach of our terms, but I seem to remember that some of sort of > agreement was generally reached saying, yes it was in breach but noone > cared 'that much'. :) Is that still true or what? I wanted to check how the NDA (if that's what we signed) deals with such issues as the Sega vs. Accolade court decision regarding reverse engineering in 1992 and the like. But unfortunately, I couldn't find Sony's license agreement on the web site. Is it online somewhere? Can you legally alienate your right to study the software on your computer? Or does the NDA just prohibit passing on information? Not all paragraphs of that license agreement must necessarily apply to you, if you have laws in your country that make them invalid. If I recall correctly, Sony reserves the right to take the NetYaroze back from you for whatever reason they like. So, it boils down to what their practice is in this matter, really. If you don't pass on information you gained through reverse engineering, but use the knowledge only to write your programs, how can someone tell that you did so, without reverse engineering your program? Regards, -- Daniel Hartmeier PGP 6A3A7409 ICQ# 12742482 "The woods are lovely, dark and deep. But I have promises to keep, And lines to code before I sleep, And lines to code before I sleep."