[volt-nuts] Keithley 2001 Multimeter Fault

[Chuck Harris]

John Ackermann N8UR wrote:
> Hi Chuck --
> 
> Yes, at least some of those examples would probably come under the DMCA 
> (not sure about an unprogrammed FPGA, because DMCA can only be used to 
> protect copyrightable expression and I don't know whether an 
> unprogrammed device would meet that test).

I was thinking more of a programmed FPGA, but having spent some time
wondering how one could make an open source program to program an
encrypted FPGA, the unprogrammed example is also of interest.
> 
> To the original question about making it illegal to discover 
> infringement, I haven't seen any cases on point, but I've had the 
> conversation with several software/IP lawyers and there was general 
> agreement that good-faith circumvention to determine infringement would 
> almost certainly be considered fair use.
> 
> But your original comment was that "basically, if you take a piece of 
> software, or hardware and figure out how it works, you have probably 
> violated the DMCA."  And I think that way overstates the case.

That's what happens when I try and keep things short and simple.

-Chuck Harris