Re: GPL V3 and Linux - Dead Copyright Holders

[Linus Torvalds <torvalds@osdl.org>]

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On Thu, 2 Feb 2006, Emilio Jesús Gallego Arias wrote:
> 
> 1.- Distribute a kernel with some DRM built-in under the GPL.
> 
> 2.- Claim that such kernel is an effective technological measure to
>     protect copyright. 
> 
> 3.- You are no longer free to modify that kernel, (removing the DRM
>     module) or you can be sued under the DMCA, for circumventing an
>     effective technological measure.

I don't believe that for a second.

The law is not a mindless computer that just follows orders. It's 
interpreted by human beings.

And the DMCA has been interpreted already in real lawsuits to mean that 
"circumvention" is not "anything you say is circumvention". See the 
decision on garage door openers, for example.

Besides, the people who inserted the DRM code explicitly gave you 
permission to modify it, so the whole point is moot. There's no 
"circumvention".

The fact is, you can always come up with made-up problems, and try to 
solve them. That's what "Throwing out the baby with the bath-water" 
_means_ for christ sake! Using a solution that has _known_ problems 
(GPLv3) for a problem that you made up and don't even know it's real.

In engineering, it's called over-desiging, and it's stupid. In law, it's 
called "billable hours", and it's encouraged.

			Linus