4 ms·

Indirectly: the source-code will include third-party licensed libraries, stuff like audio and video decoding/rendering and other middleware - so they could be s

Indirectly: the source-code will include third-party licensed libraries, stuff like audio and video decoding/rendering and other middleware - so they could be sued by the original devs/licensors for not keeping that protected.

Aloisius 3y ago
When has this ever happened?
- aaomidi 3y ago
  Thanks for asking this.
- DaiPlusPlus 3y ago
  I'm not aware of it ever happening after a hack/leak - but years-gone-by I did ask people I knew who worked in the games industry specifically why they didn't release their games as open-source and I noticed that I kept on getting the same answer from people who worked at different companies: Activision, MS Game Studios, Westwood, Electronic Arts, etc etc. And we see the results of those concerns even when games do get open-sourced - for example, last week Descent 3's engine was released as open-source, and it was released without those parts (c.f.: https://github.com/DescentDevelopers/Descent3/blob/61bb9a337d958be9b4716d67d548a06194ff2b5e/README.md#:~:text=Some%20proprietary%20sound%20and%20video%20libraries%20from%20Interplay%20have%20been%20stripped%20out https://github.com/DescentDevelopers/Descent3/blob/61bb9a337... ) ------- When a software company licenses a third-party library in source-form, invariably the license agreement includes a stipulation that the licensee take all reasonable precautions to prevent the release of the source-code - so if it can be shown that CD Projekt Red was negligent in keeping their source secure such that it was leaked by HelloKitty, then they're open to civil liability here. Obviously the onus is on the plaintiffs to prove that CD Projekt Red was negligent here. I'm not accusing CD Projekt Red of being organizationally negligent myself; but I assume that most of their devs had a copy of their entire source-tree on their machines (just like I have all of my org's source on my machines) - and it only takes 1 person to disable their antivirus for something like this to happen. What I am saying is that it's possible that CD Projekt Red was negligent in keeping any licensed source-code reasonably secure, and that HelloKitty was aware of this fact, and used that as leverage in their extortion attempt: i.e. "we know you didn't secure your source-tree - and MIDDLEWARE_PROVIDER won't be happy about that and we estimate you'll owe MIDDLEWARE_PROVIDER about $500k if they find out, so if you pay us $250k we'll keep quiet about this, if not, we'll leak everything". Again, I'm just positing by connecting-the-dots here - I'm not making any assertions.
  - gopher_space 3y ago
    Suing a victim of blackmail with the information the blackmailers released seems like it would destroy client relations across the board.
  - throwaway48476 3y ago
    It's a real shame the games industry hasn't gone source available. I hoped it would start when unreal went source available.
nxobject 3y ago
And don't forget SDKs – including one by the notoriously ligitation-happy Nintendo.

Aloisius 3y ago

When has this ever happened?

aaomidi 3y ago
Thanks for asking this.
DaiPlusPlus 3y ago
I'm not aware of it ever happening after a hack/leak - but years-gone-by I did ask people I knew who worked in the games industry specifically why they didn't release their games as open-source and I noticed that I kept on getting the same answer from people who worked at different companies: Activision, MS Game Studios, Westwood, Electronic Arts, etc etc. And we see the results of those concerns even when games do get open-sourced - for example, last week Descent 3's engine was released as open-source, and it was released without those parts (c.f.: https://github.com/DescentDevelopers/Descent3/blob/61bb9a337d958be9b4716d67d548a06194ff2b5e/README.md#:~:text=Some%20proprietary%20sound%20and%20video%20libraries%20from%20Interplay%20have%20been%20stripped%20out https://github.com/DescentDevelopers/Descent3/blob/61bb9a337... ) ------- When a software company licenses a third-party library in source-form, invariably the license agreement includes a stipulation that the licensee take all reasonable precautions to prevent the release of the source-code - so if it can be shown that CD Projekt Red was negligent in keeping their source secure such that it was leaked by HelloKitty, then they're open to civil liability here. Obviously the onus is on the plaintiffs to prove that CD Projekt Red was negligent here. I'm not accusing CD Projekt Red of being organizationally negligent myself; but I assume that most of their devs had a copy of their entire source-tree on their machines (just like I have all of my org's source on my machines) - and it only takes 1 person to disable their antivirus for something like this to happen. What I am saying is that it's possible that CD Projekt Red was negligent in keeping any licensed source-code reasonably secure, and that HelloKitty was aware of this fact, and used that as leverage in their extortion attempt: i.e. "we know you didn't secure your source-tree - and MIDDLEWARE_PROVIDER won't be happy about that and we estimate you'll owe MIDDLEWARE_PROVIDER about $500k if they find out, so if you pay us $250k we'll keep quiet about this, if not, we'll leak everything". Again, I'm just positing by connecting-the-dots here - I'm not making any assertions.
- gopher_space 3y ago
  Suing a victim of blackmail with the information the blackmailers released seems like it would destroy client relations across the board.
- throwaway48476 3y ago
  It's a real shame the games industry hasn't gone source available. I hoped it would start when unreal went source available.

nxobject 3y ago

And don't forget SDKs – including one by the notoriously ligitation-happy Nintendo.