Tue Nov 6 13:34:17 CET 2007

Legal stupidity...

I had to solve interesting task today. Instead of it, I was fighting with the legal stupidity.

I have received signed PDF file, generated PostScript from it using Adobe Reader 8 and then tried to open that file on GNU/Linux with gv. OK. Then I tried to open it in Preview. It told me that it has to convert it back to PDF. OK. But then it has shown an error message. No more info in UI. Thus I have started Console and have seen this message:

Removing the following XXXX lines is illegal, subject to the Digital Copyright Act of 1998.

OMG. The source PostScript file contains some executable dictionary and the comment above it says: "%% Removing the following eleven lines is illegal, subject to the Digital Copyright Act of 1998."

Are lawyers so stupid or what? Nevermind, I had to finish my task, thus I kept lines there. All eleven. Because removing them is illegal. Because of some act from some year. Baaah, all lines commented now. Sue me that I *added* eleven percent signs to the file I generated on my machines. Stupid legal stuff preventing users using their equipment, files.

Posted by Pavel | Permanent link | File under: Work