what3words Legal Threat to Security Researcher - Open Source Alternative

Legal Dispute Arises Over Open-Source What3Words Alternative

A U.K.-based company, the creator of the digital addressing system What3Words, has issued a legal notice to a security researcher. This action stems from the researcher’s intention to distribute an open-source software project to fellow researchers, a move What3Words alleges infringes upon its copyright.

Details of the Legal Threat

Aaron Toponce, a systems administrator at XMission, received a legal letter on Thursday. The communication, originating from the London law firm JA Kemp and representing What3Words, demanded the removal of tweets concerning the open-source alternative, known as WhatFreeWords.

The letter further requested that Toponce reveal the identities of individuals with whom he had shared the software. He was also asked to pledge against creating further copies and to delete any existing copies in his possession.

A deadline of May 7th was given for compliance. Following this date, What3Words indicated it would “waive any entitlement” to pursue claims, implying potential legal action.

Researcher's Response and Concerns

“This is not a battle worth fighting,” Toponce stated in a social media post. He confirmed to TechCrunch that he has adhered to the demands, motivated by apprehension regarding potential legal consequences.

Toponce has twice requested links to the specific tweets targeted for removal from the law firm, but has yet to receive a response. He indicated his compliance with the request will depend on the content of each individual tweet.

Understanding What3Words and the Controversy

What3Words operates by dividing the globe into three-meter squares, assigning each a unique three-word identifier. This system aims to simplify the sharing of locations, particularly in emergency situations, compared to using precise geographic coordinates.

However, security researcher Andrew Tierney previously identified a potential issue: What3Words occasionally assigns similar names to squares located less than a mile apart. This could lead to ambiguity regarding a person’s actual location, raising concerns about its suitability for critical safety applications.

Critics have consistently argued that the proprietary nature of What3Words’ geocoding technology hinders thorough examination for potential flaws or security vulnerabilities.

The Creation of WhatFreeWords

These concerns partially fueled the development of WhatFreeWords, an open-source alternative. The project’s website stated it was created through reverse-engineering What3Words.

The developers emphasized that they did not incorporate any of What3Words’ original code and included only the minimal data necessary for compatibility, aiming to avoid copyright infringement.

Despite these precautions, What3Words filed a copyright takedown request, leading to the removal of the project’s website and related tweets by Twitter.

Toponce's Involvement and What3Words' Stance

Toponce, a security researcher in his spare time, contributed to Tierney’s research. He offered to share the WhatFreeWords code with other researchers to facilitate further investigation into What3Words. He believes the legal threat may be linked to both the offer to share the code and his discovery of issues within What3Words.

In its letter, What3Words asserts that WhatFreeWords contains its intellectual property and that the company will not allow its distribution.

Despite this, copies of the code remain accessible on various websites and through Google searches, with numerous tweets linking to it appearing since Toponce publicized the legal threat. Tierney commented that What3Words’ response is “totally unreasonable” given the code’s widespread availability.

What3Words' Official Statement

According to a statement from What3Words chief executive Chris Sheldrick, the action was taken against an “unauthorized version of our software which was offered for distribution.” He specified this includes “non-trivial, proprietary binary data resources.”

Sheldrick clarified that the company is not seeking to remove criticism of What3Words or its software.

When repeatedly asked, What3Words spokesperson Miriam Frank declined to provide any instances where a court has ruled that WhatFreeWords violated its copyright.

Updated with comment from What3Words.