On Monday 01 January 2007 09:12, Amish Mehta wrote:
The issue is if you can reverse engineer a software or not,
Depends on how you do it. If it is not patented u can as long as u are not reading the source code and hence possibily creating a derived work. If it is patented u set up two teams. One to use the original package and create a specification. And one to implement the specs. The implementer should not ever see the original package.
However if the business method is patented u are in a still bigger mess like RIM. U can use the above method to reverse engineer, but cant use it in a similiar business model.
whatever it is done for. Dont count on it but my opinion is as long as its not patented and its for personal use and it does not harm anyone, it should be ok.
In India and EU software patents as well as business methods are not recognised, hence u can reverse engineer a software package using a debugger / profiler.
Only problem is, in India no one clearly knows what is legal and not legal until the case is won.
standalone software patents are NOT recognised in India. That is 100% certain.
I do not think decrypting password algorithm is such a big crime and infact Pacenet should instead have used better algorithm if they were much concerned about security.
We do not have DRM / DMCA laws right now. So decrypting passwords or algorithms when not used for illegal copying is certainly legal.