[wplug] Another attempt at control

Chester R. Hosey chosey at nauticom.net
Sun Jan 29 15:57:24 EST 2006


Bill Lavin wrote:
> Just found out about a new trade protection measure that limits what 
> you can do with the audio/video you buy.  You can read about it on 
> Slyck at http://www.slyck.com/news.php?story=1069 .  They refer to it 
> as "the broadcast flag on steroids".
> 
> Their home page also lists an article on a bill that would empower  the
> FCC to enforce the broadcast flag itself.  See that at http://
> www.slyck.com/news.php?story=1064 .
> 
> The home page also lists an article about Linus's decision to convert 
> LInux to GPL 3 - due to DRM.  The article is at http://news.com.com/
> Torvalds+No+GPL+3+for+Linux/2100-7344_3-6031504.html?tag=nefd.lede .
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Regarding the last article cited, there's no reasonable way that Linus
could convert the kernel to GPL v3. The kernel is specifically licensed
under GPL v2 without the "or later versions" clause.

The news.com.com article is trying to make something of the fact that
he's not switching to the GPL v3, but it's not surprising at all when
you consider the fact that Linus would have to seek permission from of
all contributors to switch to GPL v3. Where he couldn't get permission,
code would have to be rewritten. The amount of effort required would
almost certainly outweigh the benefits of moving to later versions.

Chet


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