Torvalds touts DRM for Linux

By Matt Whipp

Posted on 25 Apr 2003 at 13:02

Linux-creator Linus Torvalds has controversially asserted that DRM technologies have a space in the open source operating system.

In a posting to the Linux-kernel mailing list, he said that while digital rights management (DRM) was not something he personally sided with, the open source ethic can't be forced onto code or the people that write it.

'I refuse to play politics with Linux, and I think you can use Linux for whatever you want to - which very much includes things I don't necessarily personally approve of,' he said.

DRM tools and other proprietary technologies are slowly seeping into the open source world as the likes of Linux gain a stronger foothold in commercial markets. Commercial companies adopting the operating system expect to be able to use it for commercial purposes and with proprietary software. This is causing a degree of friction, as, for expample, Linux distributors are having to create APIs for proprietary software that isn't necessarily part of the GPL (general public licence) that binds the open source community.

Just as many balked at the inevitable migration of the Internet from a place of free and shared information to a commercial space, so the network of open source developers are protective of the GPL and seek to maintain the openness of open-source.

See also:

A briefing on... open source