GPL3 is not anti-DRM as such

GPL3 is not anti-DRM as such

Posted Dec 21, 2006 14:27 UTC (Thu) by epa (subscriber, #39769)
In reply to: GPL3 is not anti-DRM as such by khim
Parent article: A 2006 retrospective

You are quite right. The GPLv2 is fairly simple and only tries to control the copying and redistribution of the work. But my point is that the aim of the licence has not changed, only the means of achieving that aim. The spirit and intent of the GPLv2 is clear:

"For example, if you distribute copies of such a program, whether gratis or for a fee, you must give the recipients all the rights that you have."

This would seem to mean that if Tivo has the right to go and change the software running on your PVR, then you the recipient should also have that right. Of course it's not legally binding, just a statement of what the licence is meant to achieve. So my interpretation of that clause (which goes on to talk about source code) is not that important.

True, it's not explicitly stated that users must be able to not only 'change' the software, but change it and actually run the new version. This is an omission that v3 aims to fix.

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