Re: Is the RAR archiver freely distributable?
>> > Are ‘key recovery tools’ illegal somewhere? Tools for circumventing
>> > digital restristions measures definitely are.
>>
>> If you use them on files you legally own, they are legal. They will be
>> illegal for cracking content for which you should not have access.
>
> Another way of saying that is: The tool isn't legal or illegal. It is
> specific *actions* by persons that is restricted by law.
>
>> The tool cannot differentiate, it can only do its job.
>
> Likewise, AFAIK the law doesn't make a tool illegal, only specific
> actions.
May I ask again, what law (what jurisdiction) are you talking about. I am not familiar with North American laws, but there *is* a law prohibiting distribution of DRM-circumvention tools, for instance, in the Ukraine:
,----[ Law on copyright and related rights ]
| Section V. Protection of copyrigh and related right
|
| Article 50. Violation of copyright and related rights
|
| Violations of copyright and (or) related rights, that give grounds for
| seeking remedy in court, are:
|
| ...
|
| e) any actions to deliberately circumvent technical measures of
| copyright (or related rights) protection, in particular: making,
| distributing, importing with the purpose of distributing, and using
| tools for such circumvention;
|
| ...
`----(translation mine, cf. original at [0])
[0] http://zakon4.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/3792-12/page3
> I believe there are
> actively-enforced patents on DVD-CSS that prohibit distribution of, for
> example, free software that opens files encrypted with that scheme. If
> the Debian Project distributes such a tool, it *is* violating an
> actively-enforced law.
As far as I know, libdvdcss2 is a bruteforcing tool. There could be no patents on brute-force.
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