'cannot be part of an effective prevention measure' [LWN.net]

'cannot be part of an effective prevention measure'

Posted Jan 20, 2006 3:48 UTC (Fri) by karim (subscriber, #114)
In reply to: 'cannot be part of an effective prevention measure' by xoddam
Parent article: GPLv3: a first look

Ah ... yes ... thanks for bitting ... At last someone steps
up to the challenge ;D

It's worthy to note that the problem you allude to is
something a designer of such a system would absolutely need
to catter for even today. IOW, this is not an unknown issue.

Think no glibc ... think selinux ...

Not that it's easy to get it right. The hacks we've seen on
some consoles are based on similar ideas ...

Karim

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'cannot be part of an effective prevention measure'

Posted Jan 20, 2006 8:04 UTC (Fri) by xoddam (subscriber, #2322) [Link]

"the problem you allude to"

There's a problem? I'm not alluding to a problem, I'm working out how to
exercise my rights under the GPL :-)

I understand that if I receive a box with a differently-licenced
operating system then such exploits may violate the DMCA and its
equivalents in countries (such as my own) which have free-trade
agreements with the USA. The purpose of the DRM clause in the draft
GPLv3 is to ensure that GPL software is not used to take away the rights
of its users to use the software as they please.

Given that there is no GPLv3-licenced kernel, and that if there ever is
one it is not likely to be used inside such restricted devices,
*somebody* has to break bad laws and put up a spirited defence to them in
court or a time will come when they are considered normal and therefore
proper.