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A comment on For Texas Instruments, Calculator Hackers Don't Add Up. Parent comment

Re:For Texas Instruments, Calculator Hackers Don't Add Up by jcl on Thursday October 29, 2009 @01:40PM (#910437)
I'd guess that it can, if that number is being used to protect a copyrighted work. That sounds like exactly a situation that the DMCA was designed to make illegal.
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Re:For Texas Instruments, Calculator Hackers Don't Add Up by monocasa on Thursday October 29, 2009 @09:05PM (#911297)
Actually the DMCA has an exemption for allowing software interoperability. This sounds like exactly the situation that it was designed not to protect against.
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Re:For Texas Instruments, Calculator Hackers Don't Add Up by ars on Thursday October 29, 2009 @02:26PM (#910526)
It's not though. It's protecting hardware, not software.

It's not stopping copyright violation at all. It's preventing "unauthorized" software from running on the hardware.

I simply don't see how the DMCA applies here. In fact I can't see how any copyright law at all applies here.

No one is copying any code, they are running their own code. The key they found convinces the device to use their code.

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Re:For Texas Instruments, Calculator Hackers Don't Add Up by jcl on Thursday October 29, 2009 @03:05PM (#910620)
My impression was that he was asking about factoring in general, not specifically in relation to the TI.
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Re:For Texas Instruments, Calculator Hackers Don't Add Up by rbanffy on Thursday October 29, 2009 @04:44PM (#910864)
No, but yes.

It's not that the number is being used to protect copyright - it's a signing key that prevents you from installing different software on your calculator.

But yes. The DMCA has the provision about publishing DRM circumvention techniques and tools. This seems to be one.

Stupid and unfair, BTW. TI is hurting itself more than its user base.

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