Stallman says there have been substantial changes, but nothing radical, since the last draft was put out in July 2006. "It is basically the same idea."

Asked whether there had been changes in the draft to address concerns about digital rights management raised by Linux creator Linus Torvalds and objections to patent provisions raised by Hewlett Packard, Stallman said GPLv3 had no provisions about DRM as such.

However, "the last draft has provisions that affect other issues that relate to DRM.  For instance, it has provisions to prohibit tivoisation, which is a way of guaranteeing freedom #1 (to change the software) in a practical sense for every user.  And it has provisions to prevent GPL-covered software from being used as the basis to invoke the DMCA and similar laws so as to prohibit other programs.  But it does not restrict the features of software, and that includes DRM."

His mention of freedom #1 is a reference to the four freedoms that the FSF says software should provide in order to meet the definition of "free": freedom to run the program for any purpose; to study the source code and then change it if one wishes; helping one's neighbour and rights of distribution.

Stallman said the new draft had some changes in these provisions, but it still had them. "If Torvalds is in favour of allowing tivoisation, he will not get what he seeks from us."

He said the changes that had been made were primarily "to block deals like the Novell-Microsoft deal from every side, in every case."

{moscomment}

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Intellectual property rights  Linux  Open Source  Sam Varghese  Software