[sent to al-q; does cypherpunks-moderated@minder.net forward there?] At 06:25 PM 2/12/04 -0500, Riad S. Wahby wrote:
Among others, /. is reporting that Win2k and WinNT source code may have leaked.
The horror, the horror.
Lots has been said about OSS developers not wanting to look at this for fear that they will be "tainted." While it is true that simply the act of looking at the code is unauthorized and illegal,
If you didn't steal it, its not your problem if you read it. I wonder
if there is any truth to the claim that a developer who looked at Windows source would endanger future projects (assuming, of course, that simple copying---which is clearly illegal---doesn't happen).
How would M$ show that you had in fact read the code? And if you didn't copy it, why would a court care?