> Dear
[Name Removed]
>
> I am emailing concerning your activities to reverse engineer the
> technology of ionCube Ltd. for the purpose of facilitating intellectual
> property theft.
For real? Under what statutes or precedents are you persuming this. Oh and dont say UK or American law as not everyone resides in the 2 major population centers of the world.
>
> While reverse engineering can be a fun exercise and satisfying
> intellectual challenge, I need to make you aware that attempts to reverse
> engineer ionCube technology, including but without limitation the ionCube
> Loader, the ionCube PHP Encoder and encoded files, is a violation of the
> ionCube license agreement. While exploring privately for ones own personal
> satisfaction is one thing, moving this into the public arena is a
> different ballgame entirely, and is something that is taken extremely
> seriously.
>
> Your exact motivation is unclear, but your actions suggest and constitute
> an attack not only on the PHP script development community at large, but
> also on the PHP project itself, the continued success and evolution of
> which is in a large way due to the widespread adoption of PHP as a serious
> language for commercial development, which has only been made possible by
> tools such as the ionCube Encoder.
>
> When the ionCube Encoder was launched in 2002, the only way to protect PHP
> software was with Zend encoder, but this was, and remains, priced far out
> of reach of most developers, who might have dreamed of making a living
> from PHP development but for whom this was simply not feasible. The
> ionCube Encoder dramatically changed this, giving developers for the first
> time the opportunity to stop working for someone else, with the potential
> to support themselves and their families from developing and marketing
> their creative ideas full time and not just as a part time evening hobby.
> The rest you could say is history.
As a person who develops and provides a comercial PHP development service I think I am adept to say that ioncube is dangerous. Dont play your backup cards right and you can end up with encoded versions of your scripts and no source product, hence why I end up sponsoring [name removed] by hosting him on my server (Now you got my motivation). Never used the ioncube encoder in the past 3 years because of that, cant say I made any less money as a result.
>
> While your actions thus far are already extremely serious and punishable
> by effective legal action within your region,
Which would be? Last time I checked Reverse engineering between certain paramaters still remains legal over here.
- it applies only to computer programs. It does not apply to associated works or subject matter that may be included in the program. For example, it will not allow reproduction of the film, music, or sound recordings embodied in a computer game
- it only applies for the purpose of obtaining information necessary to enable the [person] to make independently another program [or] article;
.... I could go on. But let me just quote EFA
Section 47D (and the other computer-related exceptions in the Copyright Act) are protected from exclusion by contract in s 47H. This means that, a provision of the EULA or ToS that states that the licensee has no right to reverse engineer the product is invalid. This operates in favour of the reverse-engineer, and is in stark contrast to the position in the United States, where such contractual clauses have proved fatal to a claim of fair use.
we are prepared to turn a
> blind eye at this time should they henceforth be taken and remain private.
> We would therefore kindly request that you remove with immediate effect
> all references to your project from sites such as
thewarezscene.org and
>
wjunction.com,
I have no control over wjunction, feel free to contact them or their ISP, I wish you good luck in that area. [REMOVED CONTENT]
that you make best efforts to do the same for any systems
> not under your control, and that you cease and desist from any further
> public dissemination of information related to reverse engineering of
> ionCube technology.
>
> Recognising that despite evidence to the contrary you might not be anti
> PHP and that you might actually appreciate and enjoy PHP, should you have
> any questions I would be more than happy to discuss via email or IM.
Your thoughts would be best taken up with.. [REMOVED CONTENT]