[U-Boot] U-book and GPLv3? (fwd)

Richard Stallman
2009-07-02T13:56:44Z

> While I probably would not want to change my glucometer, the practice
> of designing hardware so that people cannot change it is becoming more
> and more of a threat to our freedom in general.

Can you be a bit more specific on this? Which devices are you aware of,
that use GPLv2 code and avoid an update?

This is a partial miscommunication -- I was talking more generally of
designing hardware so that people cannot change it, so it controls
them. Sometimes the hardware might contain tivoized software too, but
that is an evil we already understand. The point that just struck me
is that the hardware can be a system of control even aside from
possible tivoization.

But I don't have a list of examples.

about a possibility which has already outworn itself (like DRM media,
which seem to be getting more and more unpolular)?

I wish we could regard DRM as a fading threat. In music we see a
retreat from DRM, but in e-books the threat is increasing.

I hope that our campaign against DRM is succeeding in building
opposition. See DefectiveByDesign.org if you want to participate.