[OS:N:] RMS ON DRM
James Michael DuPont <[email protected]>
| Newsgroups | gmane.org.open-source-now |
|---|---|
| Message-ID | <[email protected]> |
As if magically ordered, RMS has just made statements on DRM that are relevant to this whole discussion : http://www.ofb.biz/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=260 """" TRB: Awhile back Linus Torvalds said he wasn't really opposed to DRM technology being integrated into GNU/Linux and suggested that the GPL didn't forbid such. RMS: The GNU GPL does not forbid DRM features as such, and it clearly has no effect on DRM in application programs that run on GNU/Linux, because application programs are not legally required to be GPL'd or even to be free software. But the GPL may put some limits on some of the changes in Linux (the kernel) that would be needed to include DRM support in Linux itself. TRB: What does the FSF think about DRM -- especially for data such as e-books, articles, music, and so forth? RMS: DRM is, in itself, an offense against the users' freedom. Secondarily it poses a danger to free software--the danger that free software will be entirely forbidden for important jobs such as reading a DVD or an e-book. So we are firmly against it on principle. """" So there you go. It looks like open-source-now is grasping with this problem, but it does not seem to bother some of you that it is not possible to make free software to handle these tasks. The other alternative would be to make a free software interface to a DRM chip on the computer that handles such operations. That may be the only way to pay for these poor people's morgages. I wonder where to draw the line between software on silicon and software on disk, but that might be were we have to go in the long run. mike ===== James Michael DuPont http://introspector.sourceforge.net/ __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free, easy-to-use web site design software http://sitebuilder.yahoo.com _______________________________________________ Subscription and Archive: https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/open-source-now-list/ - For K12OS technical help join K12OSN: <https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/k12osn>