917

In 2000, I wrote a Linux device driver that "decrypted" the output of a certain device, and my company, which hosted open-source projects, agreed to host it.

The "encryption" was only a XOR, but that was enough for the maker of said device to sue my company under 17 U.S.C. § 1201 for hundreds of millions in damages.

The story got a lot of press back then because it highlighted how stupid the then-new DMCA was, and also because there was a David open-source enthusiasts vs. Goliath heartless corporation flavor to it.

Our lawyer decided to pick up the fight to generate free publicity for our fledgling company. For discovery, the maker of the device requested "a copy of any and all potentially infringing source code". They weren't specific and they didn't specify the medium.

So we printed the entire Linux kernel source code including my driver in 5-pt font and sent them the boxes of printouts. Legally they had been served, so there was nothing they could do about it.

(page 2) 32 comments
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[-] BilboBargains@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago

It makes me happy to know people are pulling these capers. What was the divisor polynomial?

[-] vynlwombat@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago

bravo, I logged in just to upvote this

[-] Gimpydude@lemmynsfw.com 2 points 6 months ago

This was the cue cat incident right?

[-] Repossess6855@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 1 year ago

So fucking based

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this post was submitted on 27 Jul 2023
917 points (98.2% liked)

Malicious Compliance

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