Analysis: Embracing open source GPLv3 and avoiding hardware lock-in
It is almost a year since the Free Software Foundation (FSF) released the third version of its General Public License (GPL). Prior to the release there was a great deal of public consultation where several contentious issues were hammered out. The greatest of those was the Tivoisation clause.
"Tivoisation," a term coined by Richard Stallman, founder of the FSF, is the use of hardware to prevent changes to the software running on a device. This was in response to TiVo and other manufacturers who use open source software in their devices but who then use encryption, digital signatures or other means to prevent their customers from making alterations. These manufacturers complied with the letter of the older GPL, but not its spirit.
What Stallman and the FSF were attempting to do was enforce the freedom that the GPL gave end users by limiting the controls manufacturers could place on them.
It was controversial because there are systems where security issues may be of greater importance than the freedom to make changes. Cases such as voting machines, medical instruments and safety-critical applications come to mind.
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