Scenario: Bob is forced to buy a client for a SCM he doesn't like. Bob invites Ted to come over to his house and poke around on the client. Bob has permission to use the client AND interact with the server. Ted is looking at the server from the client that his friend purchased.
I don't think that would be something that could be construed as "illegal". It might be "actionable" in a civil tort sense.
I think a better analogy would be web sites. By looking at slashdot I'm poking around on a server I do not own (e.g. telnet slashdot.org 80, get index). If you have a BitKeeper server with kernel source on the net and you make it publically available (e.g. no passwords), I don't see how anyone who connects to it and access the data you made publically available should get in trouble. This does presume that the data isn't copyrighted such that distributing it would be illegal. In the case of the kernel,
What's not fine is phoning their employer and asking for them to get the sack because of the code they were knocking together at home.
If which was the case Tridge would have contacted his lawyer even though he did clearly did nothing illegal w.r.t. bitkeeper, but if Linus has influence with OSDL then he would have needed advice regarding suing for unfair dismissal.
"my terminal is a lethal teaspoon."
-- Patricia O Tuama
Poking a server you don't own (Score:0)
Re:Poking a server you don't own (Score:4, Interesting)
Scenario: Bob is forced to buy a client for a SCM he doesn't like. Bob invites Ted to come over to his house and poke around on the client. Bob has permission to use the client AND interact with the server. Ted is looking at the server from the client that his friend purchased.
I don't think that would be something that could be construed as "illegal". It might be "actionable" in a civil tort sense.
That might be why Tridgell is keeping quiet.
Re:Poking a server you don't own (Score:1)
Tridge's silence (Score:2, Informative)
TW to Linus at [realworldtech.com]
If which was the case Tridge would have contacted his lawyer even though he did clearly did nothing illegal w.r.t. bitkeeper, but if Linus has influence with OSDL then he would have needed advice regarding suing for unfair dismissal.