Proprietary protocol

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In telecommunications, a proprietary protocol is a communications protocol owned by a single organization or individual. [1]

Contents

Intellectual property rights and enforcement

Ownership by a single organization gives the owner the ability to place restrictions on the use of the protocol and to change the protocol unilaterally. Specifications for proprietary protocols may or may not be published, and implementations are not freely distributed. Proprietors may enforce restrictions through control of the intellectual property rights, for example through enforcement of patent rights, and by keeping the protocol specification a trade secret. Some proprietary protocols strictly limit the right to create an implementation; others are widely implemented by entities that do not control the intellectual property but subject to restrictions the owner of the intellectual property may seek to impose.

Examples

The Skype protocol is a proprietary protocol. [2]

The Venturi Transport Protocol (VTP) is a patented proprietary protocol [3] that is designed to replace TCP transparently in order to overcome perceived inefficiencies related to wireless data transport.

Microsoft Exchange Server protocols are proprietary [4] open access protocols. The rights to develop and release protocols are held by Microsoft, but all technical details are free for access and implementation. [5]

Microsoft developed a proprietary extension to the Kerberos network authentication protocol for the Windows 2000 operating system. The extensions made the protocol incompatible with implementations supporting the original standards, and this has raised concerns that this, along with the licensing restrictions, effectively denies products unable to conform to the standard access to a Windows 2000 Server using Kerberos. [6]

Effects of incompatibility

The use of proprietary instant messaging protocols meant that instant messaging networks were incompatible and people were unable to reach friends on other networks. [7]

Reverse engineering

Reverse engineering is the process of retrieving a protocol’s details from a software implementation of the specification. Methods of reverse-engineering a protocol include packet sniffing and binary decompilation and disassembly.

There are legal precedents when the reverse-engineering is aimed at interoperability of protocols. [8] [9] [10] In the United States, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act grants a safe harbor to reverse engineer software for the purposes of interoperability with other software. [11] [12]

See also

Related Research Articles

Kerberos is a computer-network authentication protocol that works on the basis of tickets to allow nodes communicating over a non-secure network to prove their identity to one another in a secure manner. Its designers aimed it primarily at a client–server model, and it provides mutual authentication—both the user and the server verify each other's identity. Kerberos protocol messages are protected against eavesdropping and replay attacks.

Network File System (NFS) is a distributed file system protocol originally developed by Sun Microsystems (Sun) in 1984, allowing a user on a client computer to access files over a computer network much like local storage is accessed. NFS, like many other protocols, builds on the Open Network Computing Remote Procedure Call system. NFS is an open IETF standard defined in a Request for Comments (RFC), allowing anyone to implement the protocol.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Instant messaging</span> Form of communication over the internet

Instant messaging (IM) technology is a type of online chat allowing real-time text transmission over the Internet or another computer network. Messages are typically transmitted between two or more parties, when each user inputs text and triggers a transmission to the recipient(s), who are all connected on a common network. It differs from email in that conversations over instant messaging happen in real-time. Most modern IM applications use push technology and also add other features such as emojis, file transfer, chatbots, voice over IP, or video chat capabilities.

In economics, vendor lock-in, also known as proprietary lock-in or customer lock-in, makes a customer dependent on a vendor for products, unable to use another vendor without substantial switching costs.

Messenger was an instant messaging and presence system developed by Microsoft in 1999 for use with its MSN Messenger software. It was used by instant messaging clients including Windows 8, Windows Live Messenger, Microsoft Messenger for Mac, Outlook.com and Xbox Live. Third-party clients also connected to the service. It communicated using the Microsoft Notification Protocol, a proprietary instant messaging protocol. The service allowed anyone with a Microsoft account to sign in and communicate in real time with other people who were signed in as well.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">XMPP</span> Communications protocol for message-oriented middleware

Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol is an open communication protocol designed for instant messaging (IM), presence information, and contact list maintenance. Based on XML, it enables the near-real-time exchange of structured data between two or more network entities. Designed to be extensible, the protocol offers a multitude of applications beyond traditional IM in the broader realm of message-oriented middleware, including signalling for VoIP, video, file transfer, gaming and other uses.

An open standard is a standard that is openly accessible and usable by anyone. It is also a common prerequisite that open standards use an open license that provides for extensibility. Typically, anybody can participate in their development due to their inherently open nature. There is no single definition, and interpretations vary with usage. Good examples of open standards include the GSM, 4G and 5G standards that allow most modern mobile phones to work world-wide.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Server Message Block</span> Network communication protocol for providing shared access to resources

Server Message Block (SMB) is a communication protocol mainly used by Microsoft Windows equipped computers normally used to share files, printers, serial ports, and miscellaneous communications between nodes on a network. SMB implementation consists of two vaguely named Windows services: "Server" and "Workstation". It uses NTLM or Kerberos protocols for user authentication. It also provides an authenticated inter-process communication (IPC) mechanism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Skype</span> Telecommunications software service/application

Skype is a proprietary telecommunications application operated by Skype Technologies, a division of Microsoft, best known for VoIP-based videotelephony, videoconferencing and voice calls. It also has instant messaging, file transfer, debit-based calls to landline and mobile telephones, and other features. Skype is available on various desktop, mobile, and video game console platforms.

Web Services Security is an extension to SOAP to apply security to Web services. It is a member of the Web service specifications and was published by OASIS.

OMA SpecWorks, previously the Open Mobile Alliance (OMA), is a standards organization which develops open, international technical standards for the mobile phone industry. It is a nonprofit Non-governmental organization (NGO), not a formal government-sponsored standards organization as is the International Telecommunication Union (ITU): a forum for industry stakeholders to agree on common specifications for products and services.

The Generic Security Service Application Program Interface is an application programming interface for programs to access security services.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Skype for Business Server</span> Real-time communications server software

Skype for Business Server is real-time communications server software that provides the infrastructure for enterprise instant messaging, presence, VoIP, ad hoc and structured conferences and PSTN connectivity through a third-party gateway or SIP trunk. These features are available within an organization, between organizations and with external users on the public internet or standard phones.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Skype for Business</span> Enterprise instant messaging and video conferencing software by Microsoft

Skype for Business is an enterprise software application for instant messaging and videotelephony developed by Microsoft as part of the Microsoft 365 suite. It is designed for use with the on-premises Skype for Business Server software, and a software as a service version offered as part of 365. It supports text, audio, and video chat, and integrates with Microsoft 365 components such as Exchange and SharePoint.

In a Windows network, NT LAN Manager (NTLM) is a suite of Microsoft security protocols intended to provide authentication, integrity, and confidentiality to users. NTLM is the successor to the authentication protocol in Microsoft LAN Manager (LANMAN), an older Microsoft product. The NTLM protocol suite is implemented in a Security Support Provider, which combines the LAN Manager authentication protocol, NTLMv1, NTLMv2 and NTLM2 Session protocols in a single package. Whether these protocols are used or can be used on a system which is governed by Group Policy settings, for which different versions of Windows have different default settings.

The Skype protocol is a proprietary Internet telephony network used by Skype. The protocol's specifications have not been made publicly available by Skype and official applications using the protocol are closed-source.

The Microsoft Open Specification Promise is a promise by Microsoft, published in September 2006, to not assert its patents, in certain conditions, against implementations of a certain list of specifications.

Proprietary software is software that, according to the free and open-source software community, grants its creator, publisher, or other rightsholder or rightsholder partner a legal monopoly by modern copyright and intellectual property law to exclude the recipient from freely sharing the software or modifying it, and—in some cases, as is the case with some patent-encumbered and EULA-bound software—from making use of the software on their own, thereby restricting their freedoms.

The WIPO Copyright and Performances and Phonograms Treaties Implementation Act, is a part of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), a 1998 U.S. law. It has two major portions, Section 102, which implements the requirements of the WIPO Copyright Treaty, and Section 103, which arguably provides additional protection against the circumvention of copy prevention systems and prohibits the removal of copyright management information.

Reverse engineering is a process or method through which one attempts to understand through deductive reasoning how a previously made device, process, system, or piece of software accomplishes a task with very little insight into exactly how it does so. Depending on the system under consideration and the technologies employed, the knowledge gained during reverse engineering can help with repurposing obsolete objects, doing security analysis, or learning how something works.

References

  1. ↑ Proprietary protocol Definition — PC Magazine Encyclopedia
  2. ↑ "Help for Skype" . Retrieved 17 March 2015.[ dead link ] - "Help for Skype"
  3. ↑ US 5883893
  4. ↑ Microsoft Exchange Server Protocols Archived January 23, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
  5. ↑ Microsoft Open Protocols Archived February 17, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
  6. ↑ "Microsoft's Kerberos shuck and jive". 2000-05-11. Archived from the original on 2014-02-22.
  7. ↑ Instant messaging: This conversation is terminated — BBC News
  8. ↑ Sega v. Accolade, 1992
  9. ↑ Sony v. Connectix, 2000
  10. ↑ Samuelson, Pamela; Scotchmer, Suzanne (May 2002). "The Law and Economics of Reverse Engineering" (PDF). Yale Law Journal . 111 (7): 1575–1663. doi:10.2307/797533. JSTOR   797533. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-07-16. Retrieved 17 March 2015.
  11. ↑ 17 U.S.C. Sec. 1201(f).
  12. ↑ WIPO Copyright and Performances and Phonograms Treaties Implementation Act
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