FSF Outs the World Wide Web Consortium over DRM Proposal
Richard Stallman calls for the W3C to remain independent of vendor interests.
Free Software Foundation founder Richard Stallman continued his crusade against Digital Rights Management (DRM) with a recent post at the FSF website, calling for the World Wide Web consortium to reject a proposal to add specifications for DRM. The post includes a link to a petition for online readers to register their concerns about the W3C proposal.
Stallman has labored for years to raise awareness about the dangers of DRM, a collection of encryption technologies used by hardware vendors, software vendors, and media companies to limit access to digital information after the sale. The FOSS community remains divided on the issue. Linus Torvalds and others have been critical of Stallman's anti-DRM focus, and the strong prohibition of DRM (which Stallman calls "Digital Restrictions Management") is one of the reasons why the Linux kernel is still licensed under Version 2 of the GPL rather than the DRM-unfriendly Version 3.
The GPL debates, however, were based on differing interpretations on the role of a software license, not necessarily on merits of DRM itself. Over the last few years, the use of encryption has expanded exponentially with higher bandwidth, faster processors, and the growth of the Internet as a content distribution medium. Stallman argues that no one can prevent vendors from adding DRM restrictions to HTML content through proprietary plugins and other non-free code, but a world-wide standards body such as the W3C should not be lending its support to DRM through official standards.
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
Fedora Asahi Remix 41 Available for Apple Silicon
If you have an Apple Silicon Mac and you're hoping to install Fedora, you're in luck because the latest release supports the M1 and M2 chips.
-
Systemd Fixes Bug While Facing New Challenger in GNU Shepherd
The systemd developers have fixed a really nasty bug amid the release of the new GNU Shepherd init system.
-
AlmaLinux 10.0 Beta Released
The AlmaLinux OS Foundation has announced the availability of AlmaLinux 10.0 Beta ("Purple Lion") for all supported devices with significant changes.
-
Gnome 47.2 Now Available
Gnome 47.2 is now available for general use but don't expect much in the way of newness, as this is all about improvements and bug fixes.
-
Latest Cinnamon Desktop Releases with a Bold New Look
Just in time for the holidays, the developer of the Cinnamon desktop has shipped a new release to help spice up your eggnog with new features and a new look.
-
Armbian 24.11 Released with Expanded Hardware Support
If you've been waiting for Armbian to support OrangePi 5 Max and Radxa ROCK 5B+, the wait is over.
-
SUSE Renames Several Products for Better Name Recognition
SUSE has been a very powerful player in the European market, but it knows it must branch out to gain serious traction. Will a name change do the trick?
-
ESET Discovers New Linux Malware
WolfsBane is an all-in-one malware that has hit the Linux operating system and includes a dropper, a launcher, and a backdoor.
-
New Linux Kernel Patch Allows Forcing a CPU Mitigation
Even when CPU mitigations can consume precious CPU cycles, it might not be a bad idea to allow users to enable them, even if your machine isn't vulnerable.
-
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9.5 Released
Notify your friends, loved ones, and colleagues that the latest version of RHEL is available with plenty of enhancements.