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DRM and public benefit.

Posted Sep 24, 2006 7:03 UTC (Sun) by man_ls (subscriber, #15091)
In reply to: DRM and public benefit. by sepreece
Parent article: Kernel developers' position on GPLv3

I am not free to hack it, not in USA and not in Europe.

If you don't like the restrictions in the device, don't buy it.

Thanks for your interest. Can I at least complain?

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DRM and public benefit.

Posted Sep 25, 2006 9:23 UTC (Mon) by cate (subscriber, #1359) [Link]

????
Copyright law now applies also to hardwares?

You can have license to use software, but you own the hardware.
IANAL, but I think in most countries the "buy" action implies ownership of hardware. (ownership don't implies ownership of "IP" (patents). Software licenses are a special case in copyright laws, but I don't know any special case for hardware devices.

But naturally you should follow the national law, i.e. norm for electric appliances (if you plug the console), radio frequencies (if you emit o receive data) etc. And naturally the new hardware should not be a bomb, or a dangerous item (but considering the newer exploding laptops, this maybe is an outdated norm).

DRM and public benefit.

Posted Sep 25, 2006 10:18 UTC (Mon) by man_ls (subscriber, #15091) [Link]

Please follow the links provided. US Code, title 17, chapter 12, para 1201:

No person shall circumvent a technological measure that effectively controls access to a work protected under this title.

And similarly (but convolutedly) in the EU law:

there is a need to provide for harmonised legal protection against circumvention of effective technological measures and against provision of devices and products or services to this effect.

So yes, copyright law applies to hardware. DRM is a "technological measure" according to both laws; if DRM is implemented in hardware, e.g. with a TPM, then you should not circumvent it by modifying the hardware.

DRM and public benefit.

Posted Sep 25, 2006 14:24 UTC (Mon) by sepreece (subscriber, #19270) [Link]

"I am not free to hack it, not in USA and not in Europe."

Sorry, I had said elsewhere that the right place to fight for a right to hack is in the legal system. I completely agree that DMCA and similar laws should not have been instituted.

However, I would also not support a law that said "Users must be able to modify all devices" or "Users must be able to update the firmware in all devices". That should be a market issue, not a legal issue.

DRM and public benefit.

Posted Sep 25, 2006 21:26 UTC (Mon) by man_ls (subscriber, #15091) [Link]

However, I would also not support a law that said "Users must be able to modify all devices" or "Users must be able to update the firmware in all devices". That should be a market issue, not a legal issue.

Nobody has asked for such a law. Remember that in this article we were originally talking about how GPLv3 does not allow such things as copyright protection measures. That is not a law; it is a license, and in a sense it is a market issue: if you don't like it, go somewhere else to get your code. So I guess we agree on this point.