Re: Why DRM exists [was Re: Flame Linus to a crisp!]

Henning P. Schmiedehausen
2003-05-06T11:13:26Z

"David S. Miller" <davem@redhat.com> writes:

>Yet I personally am offended by their behavior. You mean that I wrote a
>substantial amount of code that makes your damn product even possible
>yet I can't boot my very own kernel on your box? Well, thanks a fucking
>lot Tivo.

Then you shouldn't have given your code away.

I personally don't want anyone boot anything on anything linux
driven. Consider a linux driven medical appliance that controls your
bodily functions after open heart surgery. You don't want the hospital
admin to boot a "newer and better, self rolled Linux kernel" on
that. It might be even legally required by the medical appliance
vendor to make it impossible for a hospital admin to do so.

TiVO is an appliance. Not a general purpose computer running Linux
connected to a TV. If you want that, assemble it from readily
available components. You can't get it for the price of a TiVO? Well,
vote with your wallet.

If TiVO decides that it don't want to boot non-signed kernels on their
appliance, they can do so. If you consider this a GPL violation, sue
them.

If you don't like it, start hacking it like they do with the X-Box. Or
don't buy it.

As you yourself said many times, Linux is about freedom. About
choice. TiVO has chosen and you don't like it? Well, tough luck.

>See, it's not about what you're allowed to do, it's about being nice to
>people especially the ones that help you.

Linux and the GPL are not about being nice. Just because you wrote
parts of the code that I use for writing this message and sending it
on the internet does not mean I have to give you elevated priviledges
on the system that runs this code. I do appreciate your work and I am
grateful for it. However, that's all.

Regards
Henning

--
Dipl.-Inf. (Univ.) Henning P. Schmiedehausen INTERMETA GmbH
hps@intermeta.de +49 9131 50 654 0 http://www.intermeta.de/

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