Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by brashrat 3724 days ago
wow, I really do not want to quibble with you about something we agree on, so for the record, "hey everybody, I agree with cyphar!"

However: the GPL2 says that you can impose no restrictions on what what people can implement with free software so long as they it is only redistributed as free software, so it seems to me that while DRM'ed software is not free, DRM software itself could be free. Hey, if a DRM scheme could be designed to ensure software freedom, it might even be embraced; we already have GPL clickwrap license clicks which a narrow reading of the GPL might suggest you can't have (it's an "additional restriction" that the original software you licensed may not have had; for instance, if clickwraps are covered by law that the GPL is not covered by, you are forcing additional terms)

I know that the GPL3 had some fine tuning with regard to TiVoization and web servers, but I'm not aware that it would bar DRM software itself; but perhaps.

OK, I found it here for GPL3. You are partially correct that the GPL3 contains some anti-DRM measures but not in the sense you describe:

http://www.gnu.org/licenses/quick-guide-gplv3.en.html "It's always possible to use GPLed code to write software that implements DRM. However, if someone does that with code protected by GPLv3, section 3 says that the system will not count as an effective technological "protection" measure. This means that if you break the DRM, you'll be free to distribute your own software that does that, and you won't be threatened by the DMCA or similar laws."

I thought one aspect of the GPL (copyleft being a clever copyright hack) is that the license applies only to the code you are licensing, and not to other copyrighted works you may have authored, but in a certain sense it does. I'm sure RMS and Moglen and FSF have thought harder about this than I have, so it's quite likely I'm missing something; however they do have broader agendas as well.
1 comments
cyphar 3718 days ago
If you don't have a system that takes away your freedom with tivoisation, then yes you can have free software that implements DRM. But there's no purpose to that software because it cannot be used to restrict your users (the whole point of DRM). In addition, the software is actually not effectively free because you cannot exercise any of the freedoms because you might get DMCA'd (especially freedoms #1 and #3 -- where modification involves removing the digital handcuffs).

So, practically speaking, you can't have free DRM software. But you can have "open source" DRM software, because there's no part of the OSI that classifies software that acts like such a trap as being immoral. The GPLv3 essentially ensures that a user is not threatened by legal threats about breaking DRM in a piece of free software. It's the only software license that ensures this AFAIK, so I'm a bit sad more people don't use it for firmware and other places where defence against tivoisation matters.

link