GPLv3 draft tones down DRM language

The Free Software Foundation (FSF) unveiled a second draft of the GNU general public license version 3 (GPLv3) Thursday which adopts a different, more measured tone than the initial take released in January.

The biggest change is the replacing of strident language around the issue of DRM (digital rights management).

The variations in the two drafts reflect different levels of involvement in the process. "Draft 1 was exclusively the work of the FSF," said Eben Moglen, an FSF board member and one of the authors of the draft. "The second draft is reflective of broader opinion, of the FSF and thousands of other people around the world." After bringing out Draft 1 at the start of the year, the organization initiated a period of public debate on the proposed license.

Created by Richard Stallman in 1989 for the GNU free operating system project, the GPL was last fully revised 15 years ago. The license gives users the right to freely study, copy, modify, reuse, share and redistribute software, and govern a good deal of free and open-source software (FOSS) including the Linux operating system, MySQL AB's database and the Samba file and print server project.