Slashdot | Princeton CS Prof Edward W. Felten (Almost) Live
4) Prohibition of what got us here?
by Xesdeeni
Do I completely misunderstand the scope of the DMCA, or would it have actually prohibited the actions of clone manufacturers, starting with Compaq, when they reverse-engineered the IBM PC BIOS in 1984?
It seems this simple fact alone would highlight the ludicrous nature of a law which would prohibit precisely the actions that provided the current state of the industry.
Prof. Felten:
The effect of the DMCA on reverse engineering is complicated. The DMCA does not flatly ban reverse engineering, but if you have to circumvent a technical protection measure in order to do your reverse engineering, then the DMCA will be an issue. The DMCA does have a limited safe harbor for reverse engineering, but it has been widely criticized as too narrow.
I hate to dodge your question, but I’m not really qualified to say whether what the clone makers did would be legal under 2003 law.
Talk about your law of unintended consequences . . . .