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GPL Violations By D-Link and Boxee

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the hard-to-be-honest dept.

An anonymous reader submitted a link to a bit of a rant on GPL issues connected to D-Link and Boxee. They spend quite a bit of time explaining "Tivoization is a dangerous attempt to curtail users' freedom: the right to modify your software will become meaningless if none of your computers let you do it. GPLv3 stops tivoization by requiring the distributor to provide you with whatever information or data is necessary to install modified software on the device."

4 of 251 comments (clear)

  1. Dirty Tricks Indeed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Did someone at Boxee actually edit a forum post to change the author's intent?

    Forum Post Screenshots

    Is Boxee's operation really this shady?

  2. Re:No GPL-3 software means no violation by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Yea, notice step 1: Reset your box to factory default. The only GPLv3 piece of software on the box is GPG, and it was removed in a firmware update, so the case here is extremely weak.

  3. Re:don't ever trust promises of new features by LWATCDR · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Add in all the problems that the networks are throwing at Boxee and the other network devices and they have a big fight in their hands. I do find this flame post most amusing because he is screaming about a lack of openness as well as the lack of DRM filled streaming services. Odds are very high that the media companies are requiring the locks for security as well as the causing the delay of services!

    In other words just get a Roku box. Mine works great.

    --
    See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
  4. Companies have become serious about GPL compliance by Bruce+Perens · · Score: 3, Interesting

    My consulting firm helps law firms and their customers come into compliance with the GPL and other Free Software licenses - both before and after they distribute the product. I can tell you they do take it seriously when they run into trouble, because there is not just the threat of a lawsuit, but the threat of having infringing products prohibited from being imported into the nations where they wish to sell them.

    What a lot of companies are having problems with is establishing a compliance program before they get that letter from the Software Freedom Conservancy (which has sued about 40 companies, no kidding). Too many of them fix the problem after it's happened.

    Tivo-ization is not one of the things the companies are in trouble for, because the software in question is under GPL2, not GPL3. The problems are from simple non-compliance with the license terms.

    --
    Bruce Perens.