The line between hacking and reverse engineering is thin

Scientists are reverse engineering the galaxy. So why is it illegal to reverse engineer a DVD player or the iPhone? Even the debate pitting creationism against evolution never raises the argument that the galaxy is a secret that ought not be explored. Both sides cite science that looks at our galaxy’s present, weigh recorded history against empirical data, and hypothesise about our origins.

So how is it that the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) — an odious piece of lobbyist-written legislation if there ever was one — can make a crime out of reverse engineering? The DMCA circumvents laws governing copyright, patent, property and free speech by declaring unlawful the most essential right of all: the right to know.

If you buy something, you have the right to hook it up backwards, to turn it into a piñata, to shoot holes in it with a licensed .357 Magnum, or to plant it on a pike on your front lawn. But in America, your right to take it apart to figure out how it works is in the hands of corporate lawyers. Owning specialised tools for the purpose is okay — even disassemblers that turn software into rough source code or logic probes that record the behaviour of running silicon. But the people who once tried to levy a usurious tax on blank VHS tapes have succeeded in restricting the use of these and other tools of discovery.