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Re:The NSA Called Me After Midnight and Requested My Source ... by bb88 on Wednesday October 24, 2018 @09:12PM (#18297837)
Please. Save the moral judgement for events that happened after Edward Snowden. This happened 18 years ago. And judging his actions back then through the lens of what the NSA has done in recent history is very unfair.

Fast forward a year to 9/11, and the question would be, "What is the legal basis for not doing everything you can to help the NSA?"

Re:The NSA Called Me After Midnight and Requested My Source ... by mtw on Thursday October 25, 2018 @10:06AM (#18300967)
For a 9/11 situation, I would ask that the case should be reviewed by a judge who'd mandate an injunction (or similar) to deliver source code. In a national security situation, I'm sure the judge will work quickly, and you will still get your NSA cup. Everyone's happy.

There are laws and a constitution, you can't just throw it out the window at the first phone call.

Re:The NSA Called Me After Midnight and Requested My Source ... by bb88 on Friday October 26, 2018 @04:34PM (#18312518)
> ... should be reviewed by a judge who'd mandate an injunction (or similar) to deliver source code.

The NSA has been reverse engineering binaries for decades. Having the source saves them time and resources from doing that. Today, however, I would expect the NSA has their own binary decompiler.

> There are laws and a constitution, you can't just throw it out the window at the first phone call.

In pretty much most cases there are no laws preventing a private individual from fully cooperating with a government agency under your own free will. There may be professional consequences and civil damages, but it's not outright illegal. You would see this in cases of child porn, terrorist attacks, etc.

And frankly, most people would be so happy to see child pornographers locked up, that they wouldn't ask for a warrant from the investigating agency.