🚀 go-pugleaf

            Because the requests for code keep coming in, I am posting 
        a general response to the net.  In summary, I have decided not 
        to distribute my code. 

            Along with the requests  for code came a  few summaries of 
        earlier  discussions of the VCR Plus+  algorithm from here and 
        other  news  groups.   There is a running thread in all  these 
        exchanges that uses the word "lawsuit".  

            I make  the following observations.

            (1)  The SWK paper  is  titled  "Decoding a VCR Controller 
        Code," not "Encoding . . ." 

            (2)  It  took  the  assistance  of  the  EFF  to  get  SWK 
        published in a scholarly journal. 

            (3)  The  SWK  authors themselves have  not circulated  an 
        encoder.  And who, after all, is better able to do it?  

            (4)  I have heard that a program had been available at one 
        time,  but was withdrawn from circulation.   

            All of this makes me nervous and I have decided *not*   to 
        distribute  any code.   I  don't want anyone's attorneys at my 
        doorstep, even if their case might be frivolous. 

            However, let me restate part of my earlier posting: 

            Everything  needed  to write a 1 to  6  digit  encoder  is 
        contained in Shirriff K,  Welch C, Kinsman A,  "Decoding a VCR 
        Controller Code,"  Cryptologia, 16 (#3,  July 1992),  227-234.  
        If you can program in any higher level language,  it shouldn't 
        take  you  more  than a single afternoon.    (The  program  is 
        begging to be written in APL,  but BASIC,  C,   PASCAL or  any 
        other language,  will do fine, thank you.)   My only advice is 
        to  work  on it methodically,   one piece at a time,   knowing 
        everything you need is in SWK 

            Now  that SWK is available,  I  don't know how Gemstar can 
        hold back the floodgates.  SWK might not be an encoder, but it 
        contains  the  blueprint for one.   I  built one  without  any 
        special skills beyond  high school algebra.  Many others could 
        do  likewise.  It should be only a short time  before  someone 
        goes out on a limb to make source/executable available.