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.
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.