Laser & DRM

Laser & DRM

Posted Oct 6, 2006 12:22 UTC (Fri) by man_ls (subscriber, #15091)
In reply to: Laser & DRM by mingo
Parent article: Similar in spirit?

The GPLv3 does not allow the use of DRM in a couple of other cases, for example to prevent the tweaking of barcode-reader laser light intensities by shop owners.

How come changing the intensity of a laser is "DRM"? Where are the "digital rights" that are managed? Those of the employee, those of the employer? Sorry, Ingo, but you are tweaking your meanings once again; you are presenting another example of "Trusted Computing" as defined by Microsoft et al, or of a Trusted Platform Module (TPM). Not DRM. The difference is important and crucial to this debate.

For a TPM, the key might be set by the owner at the time of purchase and changed whenever was thought necessary. For DRM the key must stay in possession of the manufacturer / developer. A TPM is a possible solution to the problem presented, even though technically it is not very good (allowing software to change laser intensity above a certain level is probably a bad idea). DRM is not a possible solution.

Note that the FSF is against "Trusted Computing" (Stallman calls it "Treacherous Computing") as well as against DRM.

Again, the reason for the injustice is that the FSF is making the false assumption that DRM is "evil", and that "upstream" providers are doing "evil lock-in", while "downstream recipients" are the "victims".

This distinction is the very essence of DRM. Corporations distributing "content" to passive consumers.

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