Open source licence violations manual published
DUTCH software engineer Armijn Hemel has just published a manual on how to detect violations of open source software, The GPL Compliance Engineering Guide, here.
It details how to take apart bootloaders and firmwares, using tools such as Hexdump, Strings and Grep. It even includes soldering instructions to attach a serial cable to a router. Sometimes that is the only way to get access to the system's software.
Hemel works at Loohuis, an IT consultancy in the city of Utrecht and is active in the GPL Violations project. In the past three years he tinkered with hundreds of computer devices, to find out if the manufacturers use open source software without making available the source code.
He has uncovered about three hundred such licence violations, he says, including in the iPhone - the other one, by Cisco's Linksys, and in a certain type of projectors produced by HP. Last year he helped take Skype to court over a handset produced by SMC.
Most manufacturers do not take the time to check their products for licence issues. Compliance can takes months and the margins in the consumer electronics market are already thin, Hemel suspects.
Tracking licence violations is important, he says. "Open source is not equal to public software. If we do not defend the licence, then one day a judge might decide we apparently do not care."
He first became interested while trying to update the firmware of a network-attached storage device. Hemel found the producer had not published certain parts of the Linux source code, one of the requirements of the kernel's software licence, and he contacted the GPL Violations project. "It was pretty exciting, actually."
Taking apart firmware has since become a routine. The guide should ensure his expertise lives on, he says, in case he gets hit by a bus after a beer fest. " Also, there are far more licence violations than we can we muster."
Hemel hopes that other open source enthusiasts will use his manual to start taking apart computer devices. "We need more reverse-engineers that like to get to the nitty-gritty before accusing manufacturers of licence violations. Simply voicing suspicions on a public mailing list is often not a good idea. False accusations are close to libel." ยต
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Well its a safe bet that *most* microsoft software won't have any open source components tucked away - its simply far too crap for any open source goodness to be included.
It all comes down to people who are too lazy to code from themselves. People take what they want and pretend they made it. I'm certain some is unethical people and some are unethical corporations that look the other way. Any way you slice it, Thats really what happens. 
You do have to admit, some of the embedded linux stuff is pretty neat. There in lies the allure.

For the record, Thiefs should still get their hands chopped off though, if only digitally.
If I'm using GPL code but don't want anyone to know, simply use the DMCA to forbid reverse engineering of anything to prevent such detection. But no, that wouldn't really ever happen, because that would be unethical.

HB
With such a proven track record of DCMA violations, this guy had better never even board a plane that stops somewhere inside the US.
Even if he stays in the international area, he's done for.