4 ms·

Already enshrined in my country's copyright act: decompilation for purposes of interoperability, bug-fixing, or education is exempted from copyright protection,

by jhgb 5y ago

Already enshrined in my country's copyright act: decompilation for purposes of interoperability, bug-fixing, or education is exempted from copyright protection, and I don't see how a legal provision could be overridden by a contract.

kolinko 5y ago
Ditto in Poland. Also, it’s legal to use decompilation or even cracks to make and use backup copies of the software you purchased legally.
- kgeist 5y ago
  Here in Russia there's federal law (since 1992): "A person who lawfully owns a copy of a computer program or database has the right <...> to carry out any actions related to the operation of a computer program or database in accordance with its purpose, including <...> correcting obvious errors."
detaro 5y ago
if an EU country, obviously, since this court ruling is just confirming the 1991 EU copyright directive for a specific case.
- jhgb 5y ago
  Yes, an EU country, but as far as I can tell, we've already had these provisions since before our accession to the EU in the 2000s.
  - krzyk 5y ago
    EU law supersedes local law. So if your country one would prohibit such actions, EU law would take precedence and allow it.
    - jhgb 5y ago
      I may be wrong but I was under the impression that local law would have to be harmonized to comply with it in this case anyway. So at that point you have no contradiction of the two. That the local law would diverge instead sounds highly hypothetical.
    - djhn 5y ago
      In practice the enforcement of laws happens at the national level, and EU precedence doesn't always bridge the gap between theory and practice.
    - elsjaako 5y ago
      "EU law" can refer to several different things. As far as I understand, this is a ruling about Council Directive 91/250/EEC. A directive is like a template from the EU that gets copied into local laws. So there is no distinction between local an EU law here. https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/law-making-process/types-eu-law_en https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/law-making-process/types-eu-la...
grishka 5y ago
It's definitely legal in Russia to decompile something for the purpose of interoperability. Though you do have to remember that this is Russia, and the interpretation of laws changes depending on who and how rich you are.
- hansel_der 5y ago
  > this is Russia, and the interpretation of laws changes depending on who and how rich you are. show one legislation where this is not true
  - kortilla 5y ago
    Lots of western countries, including the US. The way rich people end up exploiting the legal system in the US is not a different interpretation of the laws. Corruption is not yet prevalent enough that a rich person can get away with murder by bribing judges/prosecutors to interpret the laws differently.
    - hansel_der 5y ago
      i kind of get what you want to say and admire your trust in humanity, but on the other hand am certain that there have been cases of murder that were "bribed away" in any country. "steal a million dollars and you go to jail, steal a billion dollars and they name a business shool after you"
    - cto_of_antifa 5y ago
      Right; rich people and corporations exploit the law by funding lobbying and pacs that write loopholes into legislation, instead of the direct corruption you see with Eastern oligarchs. It's an important distinction
- yariik 5y ago
  Nobody ever in Russia gets prosecuted for doing anything to any software for their own personal use. And actually there's been very few cases when someone was prosecuted let's say for using pirated software for their business. A couple of guys got unlucky and that's basically it. And this is how it should be everywhere, the copyright model was beneficial for the society maybe up until 300 years ago. Today, the whole copyright thing is bizarre.

by jhgb 5y ago

kolinko 5y ago

Ditto in Poland. Also, it’s legal to use decompilation or even cracks to make and use backup copies of the software you purchased legally.

kgeist 5y ago
Here in Russia there's federal law (since 1992): "A person who lawfully owns a copy of a computer program or database has the right <...> to carry out any actions related to the operation of a computer program or database in accordance with its purpose, including <...> correcting obvious errors."

detaro 5y ago

if an EU country, obviously, since this court ruling is just confirming the 1991 EU copyright directive for a specific case.

jhgb 5y ago
Yes, an EU country, but as far as I can tell, we've already had these provisions since before our accession to the EU in the 2000s.
- krzyk 5y ago
  EU law supersedes local law. So if your country one would prohibit such actions, EU law would take precedence and allow it.
  - jhgb 5y ago
    I may be wrong but I was under the impression that local law would have to be harmonized to comply with it in this case anyway. So at that point you have no contradiction of the two. That the local law would diverge instead sounds highly hypothetical.
  - djhn 5y ago
    In practice the enforcement of laws happens at the national level, and EU precedence doesn't always bridge the gap between theory and practice.
  - elsjaako 5y ago
    "EU law" can refer to several different things. As far as I understand, this is a ruling about Council Directive 91/250/EEC. A directive is like a template from the EU that gets copied into local laws. So there is no distinction between local an EU law here. https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/law-making-process/types-eu-law_en https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/law-making-process/types-eu-la...

grishka 5y ago

It's definitely legal in Russia to decompile something for the purpose of interoperability. Though you do have to remember that this is Russia, and the interpretation of laws changes depending on who and how rich you are.

hansel_der 5y ago
> this is Russia, and the interpretation of laws changes depending on who and how rich you are. show one legislation where this is not true
- kortilla 5y ago
  Lots of western countries, including the US. The way rich people end up exploiting the legal system in the US is not a different interpretation of the laws. Corruption is not yet prevalent enough that a rich person can get away with murder by bribing judges/prosecutors to interpret the laws differently.
  - hansel_der 5y ago
    i kind of get what you want to say and admire your trust in humanity, but on the other hand am certain that there have been cases of murder that were "bribed away" in any country. "steal a million dollars and you go to jail, steal a billion dollars and they name a business shool after you"
  - cto_of_antifa 5y ago
    Right; rich people and corporations exploit the law by funding lobbying and pacs that write loopholes into legislation, instead of the direct corruption you see with Eastern oligarchs. It's an important distinction
yariik 5y ago
Nobody ever in Russia gets prosecuted for doing anything to any software for their own personal use. And actually there's been very few cases when someone was prosecuted let's say for using pirated software for their business. A couple of guys got unlucky and that's basically it. And this is how it should be everywhere, the copyright model was beneficial for the society maybe up until 300 years ago. Today, the whole copyright thing is bizarre.