[Office-commits] r9759 - trunk/campaigns

[sysadmin]

Author: johns
Date: Mon Sep 28 16:17:33 2009
New Revision: 9759

Log:
RMS article about OS X not having a backdoor, to be published on fsf.org

Added:
   trunk/campaigns/rms-mac-mistake.mdwn

Added: trunk/campaigns/rms-mac-mistake.mdwn
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+++ trunk/campaigns/rms-mac-mistake.mdwn        Mon Sep 28 16:17:33 2009        
(r9759)
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+I have said in speeches that Apple could forcibly impose software
+changes in Mac OS X, just as Microsoft can with Windows.  I heard this
+in the Mac community, but there is no published information that
+confirms it, and I now believe that I was misinformed.  There is no
+evidence that Apple has installed software changes without the user's
+permission.
+
+We have no way to verify that there is no back door in Mac OS X that
+could install changes without permission, but that is no basis to
+claim there is one.  I apologize for repeating a criticism of Mac OS
+which I cannot substantiate and must presume is false.
+
+While Apple has not, it seems, imposed changes by force, it has a
+record of making users install harmful changes on pain of losing
+functionality, and misleading users about what these changes do.
+
+In 2005, Apple made users install version 4.7 of iTunes in order to
+continue using the iTunes music store. This "upgrade" was billed by
+Apple as fixing a "security hole." What the update actually did was
+change the iTunes system of Digital Restrictions Management (DRM) to
+make PyMusique stop working. PyMusique was free software that allowed
+GNU/Linux users to access the iTunes store. (See
+<http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-03/22/content_2728356.htm> and
+<http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/03/22/apple_blocks_pymusique/>.)
+
+Apple similarly imposed other incompatible iTunes changes later in
+2005, and in 2006: users could not play music purchased using newer
+versions of iTunes in older versions of iTunes. So users had to update
+iTunes on all of their computers that they wanted to play their own
+music on, not just on the computer that they used to actually purchase
+the DRM-afflicted music. (See
+<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FairPlay>.)
+
+In 2008, Apple snuck a new DRM malfeature into Quicktime in an update
+advertised as adding a feature for renting movies. This malfeature
+stopped users from playing video files they themselves had made. (See
+<http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/01/26/quicktime_drm_cripples_adobe_programs/>.)
+
+If Mac OS X does not have a backdoor to forcibly install changes, that
+does not make it ethical. It has other malicious features, such as
+Digital Restrictions Management (see
+<http://defectivebydesign.org/apple). What makes those malfeatures
+possible is that users can't remove them. Mac OS is proprietary
+software, so the users don't have control over it -- rather, the
+developer has sole control over the program, and employs it as an
+instrument of control over the users. So I don't withdraw my
+condemnation of Mac OS. But I do withdraw the claim that it has a
+known back door.