TPM equals TiVoization

Posted by Ken Y-N on April 3rd, 2009 at 03:53pm

There was a not unusprisingly negative (given the site name) on adding TPM support into the kernel published on the site Boycott Novell.

The spark that set them off was the following change notes for the Linux Weather Forecast project from IBM for Linux 2.6.30:

Support for integrity management in the kernel has been merged. This code makes use of the trusted platform module (TPM) built into many systems to ensure that the system’s files (including its executable software) have not been corrupted, maliciously or otherwise.

The article continues with wild speculation about how this will result in TiVoization, the ability to prevent people modifying software.

Actually, it’s true that it could be used for TiVoization, but quite frankly, so what? There is the argument of GPL v2.0 versus GPL v3.0, but it’s a far bigger argument than just Tivoization; a GPL v3.0-licensed kernel would be dropped like a hot potato by most companies, given the anti-patent clauses within the newer license.

Tags: boycott novell, gpl, tivo

Under TPM Tags: boycott novell, gpl, tivo