GPLv3 has March 2007 as its scheduled date of coming into force. The existing draft of the license insists that if someone sells a software binary then,  he or she is also required to provide the source; along with that comes a requirement to provide whatever it takes to authorise a recompiled version to run. The man behind the license, Free Software Foundation founder Richard M. Stallman told a conference in Bangalore last year that he has not prohibited DRM. ""You can modify a GPL covered program to do anything at all, including restricting the person using it. And you could distribute that to other people, but we insist that they have the four freedoms so that they are free to take out the malicious feature that you put in," he said then.

As Red Hat has been a strong proponent of open source software, one has to assume that the company's move, through Alan Cox (there are few others who are as prominent FOSS advocates in its ranks) is to provide a solution to the problem by putting obstacles in the way of implementing DRM. Red Hat could also take the extreme step of refusing to license this technology if the patents are obtained.

It is unlikely that the patent will be granted but one thing which Red Hat has done is to ensure that the issue gets prime time coverage. This is not some two-bit company that is pushing the application, it is a firm that has taken an uncommon business model and made it work. And Cox is not some Johnny-come-lately, he is a revered figure and a developer of no mean ability. I've had my criticisms of the company (and probably will have more in days to come) but on this one, I can only say well done.

Now to Torvalds's interview. As it appears in the official media organ of the conference, the so-called 'media sponsor', it is reasonable to assume that it has the blessings of the organisers of Australia's National Conference, linux.conf.au, which Torvalds is attending. And thus it is also reasonable to assume that there will be no "clarifications" issued later on as is a common practice when organisers of an event discover that something which a prominent attendee conveys to the media can embarrass them.

Many people are prone to shy away from questioning anything Torvalds says - because of his status and also because he has never tried to capitalise on his own invention. He has also never tried to introduce a moral or ethical angle to the fact that Linux is licensed in a way that enables anybody and everybody to profit from it - whether it be the little kid who plays a few simple games, the average worker who uses it because of its applications and low cost, or the big company which is trying to screw everybody else and corner the market for GNU/Linux.