Does it have to get worse? [LWN.net]

Does it have to get worse?

Posted May 7, 2008 21:32 UTC (Wed) by man_ls (subscriber, #15091)
Parent article: Blizzard tests the reach of copyright law

One might wonder if this trend towards copyright fascism has to continue for some time before people realize that things must change. Can you imagine what might happen if e.g. hardware developers suddenly want to restrict usage of their binary firmware blobs to, let's say, ~~extorted users~~ monthly subscribers? This copyright regime is the best argument to keep fighting for free software.

Thanks for a very interesting and balanced article, Jake. Keep it up.

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Does it have to get worse?

Posted May 8, 2008 3:13 UTC (Thu) by jordanb (subscriber, #45668) [Link]

Apple's pushing in this direction pretty hard. "You modify your phone, we brick it" is just
the beginning.

Does it have to get worse?

Posted May 8, 2008 9:27 UTC (Thu) by __alex (subscriber, #38036) [Link]

Didn't the 1.1.4 update unbrick a lot of phones?

Does it have to get worse?

Posted May 9, 2008 15:59 UTC (Fri) by giraffedata (subscriber, #1954) [Link]

Can you imagine what might happen if e.g. hardware developers suddenly want to restrict usage of their binary firmware blobs to, let's say, extorted users monthly subscribers?

ISTR a case just like that with an automated parking garage. A city bought one (a big piece of hardware) and paid the manufacturer a monthly fee (ostensibly to run it). At some point the latter part of the deal broke down, the city stopped paying, and the city no longer had the ability to use the garage for some reason related to the copyright on the garage's control program.

But that probably wasn't as sudden as you're talking about -- the city presumably understood what it wasn't getting better than someone who buys a router that appears to come with the required firmware blob.