From owner-freebsd-hackers  Thu Feb 13 13:58:12 1997
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Date: Thu, 13 Feb 1997 22:57:45 +0100
From: se@freebsd.org (Stefan Esser)
To: terry@lambert.org (Terry Lambert)
Cc: jb@cimlogic.com.au (John Birrell), hackers@freebsd.org
Subject: Re: MIME applications for FreeBSD
References: <199702130839.TAA00435@freebsd1.cimlogic.com.au> <199702132041.NAA00703@phaeton.artisoft.com>
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In-Reply-To: <199702132041.NAA00703@phaeton.artisoft.com>; from Terry Lambert on Feb 13, 1997 13:41:02 -0700
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On Feb 13, terry@lambert.org (Terry Lambert) wrote:
> "We" is very broad here.  Most Europeans, especially Germans, are
> not prevented from reverse engineering file formats or other
> interfaces. 

This is not true, actually!

There are strict restrictions, with only few exceptions.

Looking at the machine code of program binaries is not 
allowed (and will be prosecuted) in general, for example.

Interfaces may be reverse engineered ONLY for the purpose
of adding value to a product, which you then may sell. 

But publishing the results (eg. in the form of source code 
that uses that interface) is prohibited.

Regards, STefan