[Cryptography] What is going on with TrueCrypt?

[Jerry Leichter]

On Jun 2, 2014, at 2:11 PM, Nemo <nemo at self-evident.org> wrote:
> ...What would happen if someone just cut&pasted the TrueCrypt source
> wholesale and put his/her own name, copyright, and license on it?
> 
> The only ones with legal standing to sue for infringement are the
> authors, who are anonymous. They (he?) would have to give up that
> anonymity just to initiate legal action. Not to mention engaging a bunch
> of lawyers for a settlement worth zero....
> 
> Would hijacking the TrueCrypt source like this be unethical?
> Perhaps. But I would still love to see someone give it a whirl.
I had a similar thought.

What it really comes down to is the goal of such an effort.  If what you want is a hacker's toy, there's probably nothing anyone could do to stop it.  The record and movie companies have been trying to stop unauthorized copying for years to little effect - and they have huge amounts of capital, both monetary and political, to throw at the problem.

On the other hand, no corporation large enough to hire a lawyer would touch the resulting code.  Too many unknowns; too much uncertainty.  Bad for business.  If you succeed, you're just creating a pot of money worth suing over.

The situation is analogous to RSA back in the days when the patents on it were still live.  Eventually, the patents ran out and RSA became a tool everyone uses.  But copyright, unlike patents, for all practical purposes never runs out.

                                                        -- Jerry

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