Ask HN: I've reversed-engineered a private API, how make profit of it?

1 points by LewYard 8y ago ↗ HN

I know nothing about laws, advertisement, or marketing. I would like to have your opinion about making profit of this work.

Should I contact the original app developers and propose a deal ? The app is super secured, and I did not find any security breach, I just reverse-engineered it. So I am not sure it will interest them. The app has over 90 million users, and as far as went my research, it seems the API documentation never appeared online.

Should I publish a paid app with additional features not in the original app, or make it free with ads ? Is it legal ? I am in EU.

Should I start a blog, explain how I did, and offer to sell the documentation ? Is it legal ?

Should I sell it on the blackmarket ?

Should I write an article and sell the article to a popular website ? Which one ? Is it legal ?

Should I start a blog, stay vague and grow an audience ? Then how to make profit ?

Overall, what is legal ? Which is the more profitable ? Is there other ways ?

1 comment

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tyingq 8y ago ↗

Whether it's technically legal is probably less relevant than the idea that the owner can sue you anyway.

At which point you hire a lawyer to prove you're legal, but still at some expense and risk to you.

Or, short of that, they could wait and see if you have some success, then find ways to block you. You can adapt, of course, but so can they.

Generally, I'd avoid basing your success on someone else's whims.