PGP source code

[Charles Lindsey]

	On Sun, 2 Sep 2001 18:40:24 +0100 (BST)
	Philip Rowlands <phr@doc.ic.ac.uk> said...

> 
> On Sun, 2 Sep 2001, Charles Lindsey wrote:
> 
> >If you have downloaded the source without having seen the License first,
> >then you are left with whatever the Copyright laws allow. You may not
> >make copies to pass to others. You may make whatever copies for backup,
> >execution, etc the Copyright law allows. And, in particular, you MAY
> >comment on bugs you find in the code, illustrated with such small
> >fragments of the code as are allowed ubder the Fair Use doctrine.
> 
> But the initial unlicenced download will be a whopping (i.e. too large
> to claim Fair Use) breach of copyright, no? I am unfamiliar with the
> extent of Fair Use rights, but I would be very surprised to learn that
> complete execution and reverse engineering are allowed.

No, if the source is put in a publicly visible place (e.g. on a web site
with no password protection, and with a URL that you just happened to
find on the back on an old fag packet) then that should indicate a clear
invitation by the owner for the rest of the world to read it.

To read it, you clearly have to download it first. What you are allowed
to do after that would depend on the details of the copyright law, but
for sure you could selectively quote small parts of it in the course or
reviewing it, under the fair use principle (details of which may vary
slightly from country to country, but which seem to exist in some form
in most jurisdictions).


Charles H. Lindsey ---------At Home, doing my own thing------------------------
Tel: +44 161 436 6131 Fax: +44 161 436 6133   Web: http://www.cs.man.ac.uk/~chl
Email: chl@clw.cs.man.ac.uk      Snail: 5 Clerewood Ave, CHEADLE, SK8 3JU, U.K.
PGP: 2C15F1A9      Fingerprint: 73 6D C2 51 93 A0 01 E7 65 E8 64 7E 14 A4 AB A5