For anyone looking for GPLv3 explanations:

Posted Sep 25, 2006 16:01 UTC (Mon) by sepreece (guest, #19270)
In reply to: For anyone looking for GPLv3 explanations: by petegn
Parent article: Kernel developers' position on GPLv3

Most users are just that - users. They don't particularly care about using content in ways that the DRM systems prevent (though some of the proposed next-gen systems will probably irritate more of them). But, by all means, educate the users and try to get them to push back on the content providers.

The trade off you are asking for (if you use free software, you cannot keep people from modifying it in the device) is not generally agreed to be part of GPLv2 (though some people do believe it was in the spirit or intention of v2, many others do not). The kernel developers' letter expressed their opinion that it should not be part of the mainstream GPL in the future, either.

So, the choice you posit in your third paragraph is not a fact, it is a question to be resolved in the debate over GPLv3...