Richard Stallman, founder of the Free Software Foundation, proposed changes to General Public Licence at a public forum on Tuesday but made clear that provisions to protect users from patent litigations will remain intact.
New licensing terms for Linux and other open-source products take a "highly aggressive" stance against the digital rights management software that's widely favoured in the entertainment industry, said Eben Moglen, general counsel for the Free Software Foundation.
Linus Torvalds said that he won't convert Linux to version 3 of the General Public License, as he objects to digital rights management provisions in the proposed update.
Provisions against digital rights management in a draft update to the General Public Licence could undermine computer security, Linus Torvalds said this week in e-mails reflecting the Linux leader's pragmatic philosophy.
The next version of the General Public License may tackle the issue of Web companies that use free software in commercial Web-based applications but don't distribute the source code.
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