Comment by literallyaduck

5 years ago

Decoding viewstate might technically be illegal according to the DMCA, but shouldn't be and if the journalist is convicted they should be immediately pardoned.

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literallyaduck

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nextaccountic  5 years ago

Is the base64 in there actually a measure intended to stop copyright infringement? It can't be, base64 is completely transparent. The reason things are encoded in base64 is so that they can be transmitted in a subset of ascii (and thus be embedded in plain text formats like html).

  • literallyaduck  5 years ago

    Viewstate is base64 then a further serialized underneath, it isn't XML or JSON, but is totally readable enough to pick out fields.

    In some states if you have screened in porch and you break the screen, it is still breaking and entering.

    Even the base64 could be equivalent to the screen door.

    I hope the reporter doesn't actually get prosecuted for this, but we need to fix some of our laws.

    • zarzavat  5 years ago

      It's not nearly as bad as breaking a screen door. It's more like writing in a foreign alphabet, and then crying foul when someone can read that alphabet.

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