On Mon, Jul 30, 2001 at 07:53:28PM +0100, João Miguel Neves wrote:
On 30 Jul 2001 20:14:31 +0200, Simo Sorce wrote:
The problem is that, in practive it makes reverse engineering a crime.
Will this imply that decoding protocols that flows over a network will be also a crime?
First, the standard disclaimer, IANAL. For SMB, as is, I think there's no problem. Now if MS extends the authentication protocol to make sure you're connecting from workstation with a valid license, reverse engineering that might put you in jail, because your work could be considered as "facilitating ... an infringement of any copyright".
In your example the copyright infringement would be the unlawful use of a computer program. Article 1 of this directive explicitly excludes computer programs, so you can reverse engineer SMB without fear of violating this law. The directive is intended to protect audio, visual and audio-visual material.
Note: IANAL also.