When using the RPG, an expert selects the type of case, type of report, types of technologies involved, types of tools used, and expert background profiles from a GUI. Then a Microsoft Word draft report is generated that includes all of the selected generic information intermixed with blank sections where case-specific information should be filled in manually.
Currently, many experts either dig through their prior works to find specific descriptions or write them from scratch each time. Maintaining a library of generic report elements is a challenge, especially when multiple experts are involved. RPG acts as a version control system between multiple experts who can upload and download detailed descriptions of experts, technologies, and tools from a central server. The reports are generated according to specific formats, so an entire team of experts can easily produce reports that are consistently formatted with the most up-to-date descriptions.
RPG also keeps synced descriptions of CodeSuite, so it can include the most up-to-date descriptions and pricing of the tools without having to search the S.A.F.E. website or CodeSuite help files.
If you’re interested in trying out RPG, contact our Sales Department.
]]>Although I believe that the standard tests I have used are not biased, it occurred to me that there could be a better way to eliminate even unintentional bias. The solution would be to take the source code for certain open source programs and announce a new open source project that would involve purposely plagiarizing the code. Programmers from around the world would be invited, perhaps in a competition, to change the source code while retaining the functionality. The original programs and the plagiarized versions submitted from others would be stored in a database known as the Depository of Universal Plagiarism Examples or DUPE. Plagiarism detection programs would then be run on DUPE and comparisons of the results could be made to determine which programs best detected copying. Also, important statistics about plagiarized code could be determined, as well as patterns identified in order to improve the plagiarism detection programs.
SAFE Corporation has begun looking into creating this database. However, we realize that we would like to work with partners in academia and industry. We believe that there are several key issues that need to be resolved in creating DUPE. These are:
Please contact me if you’re interested in working on this important and groundbreaking project.
]]>If you have a research idea relating to code analysis, and you can use the SAFE tools, let us know. Email Larry Melling, VP of Sales and Marketing with your ideas. If they pass our review process you’ll get free licenses to our tools, free support, and help getting your results published. This could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship.
]]>Nintendo tightly controlled access to its successful NES video game system and did not release the specifications for creating a game cartridge for the system. In order to produce a game for the system, companies had to pay a license fee to Nintendo and had to agree not to produce the licensed game for any other game system for two years. Incorporated into the Nintendo NES system was a computer program called 10NES that checked whether a particular game had been licensed. If not, the game was not allowed to run. Atari reverse engineered the 10NES program and created its own program called Rabbit for bypassing 10NES. Atari sued Nintendo for, among other things, unfair competitions and monopolistic practices. Nintendo countersued for, among other things, copyright infringement. The U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that the reverse engineering was perfectly legal. It also ruled that Atari infringed on Nintendo’s copyright when Atari created its own program based on Nintendo’s program. The decision by Judge Randall Rader reads as follows:
]]>The district court assumed that reverse engineering (intermediate copying) was copyright infringement… This court disagrees. Atari did not violate Nintendo’s copyright by deprocessing computer chips in Atari’s rightful possession. Atari could lawfully deprocess Nintendo’s 10NES chips to learn their unprotected ideas and processes. This fair use did not give Atari more than the right to understand the 10NES program and to distinguish the protected from the unprotected elements of the 10NES program. Any copying beyond that necessary to understand the 10NES program was infringement. Atari could not use reverse engineering as an excuse to exploit commercially or otherwise misappropriate protected expression.
As the owner of a copyright, you have the right to reproduce the work, enhance the work, distribute the work, and perform it or display it in public.
With software, the copyright gives protection to the source code and the binary code generated from the source code. In order to register a copyright, it is normally necessary to file a copy of the intellectual property being protected with the US Copyright Office as proof. Since most software contains valuable trade secrets (which we discuss in a later section) that would lose their value if presented to the public, the copyright office allows software source code to be submitted with major sections “redacted” or left out. In fact, only the first 25 and last 25 printed pages of source code need to be submitted, though there are no guidelines as to what constitutes “first” and “last” in something consisting of many independent files and a complex interconnect of routines.
Note that a copyright notice is not required in the code, except for registering the copyright.
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