Hacking Team used open source code to build Android monitoring software

Re:Hacking Team used open source code to build Android monit... by Joky on Wednesday July 22, 2015 @12:00PM (#9930391)

The title here is "Hacking Team steals open source code to build Android spy tool", while it seems to me that they didn't "steal" anything. They just used some open-source software to build their tools. Maybe someone could argue that it is GPL code and there should be redistribution of the code, but this is only towards the client of Hacking Team.

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Re:Hacking Team used open source code to build Android monit... by dublinben on Wednesday July 22, 2015 @12:23PM (#9930576)

Their use was a violation of the license (GPL v2) of the software at issue. If commercial copyright infringement can be called "theft" then Hacking Team certainly "stole" his code. End users of software, not just the paying clients/spooks, have rights under the original license of his app.

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Re:Hacking Team used open source code to build Android monit... by FireBeyond on Wednesday July 22, 2015 @02:11PM (#9931306)

Based on what? Do you know of a single end user client that's complaining that they don't have the source code to the tools? More than likely they do.

Or are you saying that the license applies to the 'end user', the person unknowingly and/or unwillingly being monitored by the injection of this software onto their devices?

Is that really a road you want to go down - that people with no knowledge or consent are still parties to a license? The whole "click through" EULA thing is bad enough. Now I can come along, commit a felony to install something on your computer without your knowledge and you're still a party to the license of the software I installed.

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Re:Hacking Team used open source code to build Android monit... by yarrel on Wednesday July 22, 2015 @12:09PM (#9930465)

Yes it's LGPL. As long as their clients could receive the source code if they wanted and re-link the binaries there isn't a problem.

Could their clients receive the source code and re-link?

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Re:Hacking Team used open source code to build Android monit... by sctb on Wednesday July 22, 2015 @12:09PM (#9930467)

We updated the title, since the submitted article doesn't use the word "steal".

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Re:Hacking Team used open source code to build Android monit... by bluejekyll on Wednesday July 22, 2015 @12:09PM (#9930473)

What's funny is that one of Stallman's arguments for GPL over BSD style licenses, i.e. Free vs. Open licenses, is specifically about the code being used for nefarious purposes, like DRM. In this case it's used to create something even more sinister, but by all accounts they are following the licensing by keeping the source open.

So it says more to me about picking a license that you are comfortable with, and understanding that based on that choice it's going to possibly be used in the worst way that you could imagine.

They were correct to leave his name as copyright holder, as doing anything different would mean that they stole his copyright, which they did not.

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Re:Hacking Team used open source code to build Android monit... by bcg1 on Wednesday July 22, 2015 @12:22PM (#9930571)

There is not evidence that they complied the license. They were hacked and this source code was exposed. I suspect that they were not properly distributing links to the source for the LGPL library they used (especially since it seems like this is Android spyware).

BTW even if they cited the author as the copyright holder... that does not necessarily mean that they were complying with the license, which could definitely be copyright infringement

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Re:Hacking Team used open source code to build Android monit... by plonh on Wednesday July 22, 2015 @01:40PM (#9931091)

As linked elsewhere in this thread,RMS explicitly endorses using GPL software for nefarious purposes outside of restricting software freedom.

GPL solves one specific problem. It isn't Superman.

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