Comment by teiferer

11 days ago

> I've been a FOSS guy my entire adult life, I wouldn't put my name to something that would enable the kinds of issues you describe.

Until you get acquired, receive a golden parachute and use it when realizing that the new direction does not align with your views anymore.

But, granted, if all you do is FOSS then you will anyway have a hard time keeping evil actors from using your tech for evil things. Might as well get some money out of it, if they actually dump money on you.

13 comments

teiferer

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cyphar  10 days ago

I am aware of that, my (personal) view is that DRM is a social issue caused by modes of behaviour and the existence or non-existence of technical measures cannot fix or avoid that problem.

A lot of the concerns in this thread center on TPMs, but TPMs are really more akin to very limited HSMs that are actually under the user's control (I gave a longer explanation in a sibling comment but TPMs fundamentally trust the data given to them when doing PCR extensions -- the way that consumer hardware is fundamentally built and the way TPMs are deployed is not useful for physical "attacks" by the device owner).

Yes, you can imagine DRM schemes that make use of them but you can also imagine equally bad DRM schemes that do not use them. DRM schemes have been deployed for decades (including "lovely" examples like the Sony rootkit from the 2000s[1], and all of the stuff going on even today with South Korean banks[2]). I think using TPMs (and other security measures) for something useful to users is a good thing -- the same goes for cryptography (which is also used for DRM but I posit most people wouldn't argue that we should eschew all cryptography because of the existence of DRM).

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony_BMG_copy_protection_rootk... [2]: https://palant.info/2023/01/02/south-koreas-online-security-...

mikkupikku  11 days ago

This whole discussion is a perfect example of what Upton Sinclair said, "It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it."

A rational and intelligent engineer cannot possibly believe that he'll be able to control what a technology is used for after he creates it, unless his salary depends on him not understanding it.

faust201  11 days ago

You could tell this sort of insinuation to anyone. Including you.

Argument should be technical.

  • teiferer  11 days ago

    Insinuation? As a sw dev they don't have any agency over whether or by whom they get acquired. Their decision will be whether to leave if it's changing to the worse, and that's very much understandable (and arguably the ethical thing to do).

  • majewsky  11 days ago

    > You could tell this sort of insinuation to anyone. Including you.

    Yes. You correctly stated the important point.