Legal Issues of Opening Up Proprietary Standards?

mrjb asks: "The Alesis HD24 is a 24-track, hard disk audio recorder with a built-in 10 megabit FTP server. To improve on file transfer speed, Alesis offers an external Firewire drive with a program called FST/Connect which reads the disks under Windows. I've contacted Alesis about a Linux solution, but none is planned. Also, they are (understandably) not very eager to reveal the file system specs. After a few days of staring at hex codes, I now know enough about the FS to read HD24 IDE disks under Linux (no Firewire required). As I know I benefit from the efforts of the Samba and OpenOffice teams, I'd love to share this info. I'm not, however, the least bit interested in Alesis suing me (in fact, I might want to send them my CV at some point). What would your advice be in such a delicate situation of conflicting interests?"

Comments

Proof?

[guyfromindia]

BTW, the article doesnt have a link for some of us lazy folks...
Here is a link to the product (Alesis HD24)...
Just curious... how can you prove that you didnt have any inside information on the specs and that you decoded it all by yourself?

Use someone's wireless network

[necro2607]

Easy, dude. Write up the specs, hop onto someone's open wireless network, and post the file online from there. ;)

solution

[gigel]

remove your name from the source code
zip the source code
rename it pamela anderson new video (2006)
share it on kazaa, dc++, bittorrent, etc, etc, etc

Re:Put a layer of indirection

[online-shopper]

Here's an idea, send the company the source and your CV. See what happens.

Re:Alesis loves lawsuits

[Anonymous Coward]

Dear the_arbiter, My client, Alesis inc, has suffered extreme damage to reputation through the remarks posted by yourself on slashdot.org We are seeking $3.2 million in punitive damages, See you in court, Susan N. E. Boddee, Attorney, Screwem, Kickem & Run

Re:Scary yes... but...

[Just Some Guy]

So in the end, from one legal dispute, three lawsuits emerge, and two of those suits were at best frivolous, taking advantage of the cost of a lawsuit as a tool to try to extract concessions.

Perhaps your friend and his friends should have turned that into a legal dispute, three lawsuits, and a hospitalization. Remember, never cost someone more than they'd have to pay to have you killed.