You might have heard the news that NVIDIA has added code to it’s GPUs that make them less attractive for cryptocurrency mining by reducing the efficiency of such computations using a software patch. On one side this is great news because it means that GPUs will be less attractive for mining and be available for gamers and others to use in their setup. However, I feel that this is a bad precedent being set by a company. In effect they are deciding to control what you do with the card after you have bought it. A similar case would be a restriction in your car purchase to stop you from using it on non-highway roads. Or to stop you from carrying potatoes in the trunk.
This all comes back to the old story about DRM and how it is being used to restrict us from actually owning a device. With DRM you are essentially renting the device and if you do anything that the owner corporation doesn’t agree with then you are in for a fun time at the local jail. DRM/DMCA is already being used to block farmers from fixing their farm equipment, medical professionals from fixing their health equipment and a whole lot more.
Cory Doctorow has a fantastic writeup on how DRM works and the problems caused by it. DRM does not support innovation, it actually forces status-quo because it is illegal to bypass it.
I have an old X-Box sitting in my closet collecting dust, I want to run Linux on it but that requires me to break the law because I would need to bypass the DRM protections in order to install a new OS. Today we are ok when they are blocking cryptocurrency, what if tomorrow the company gets into a fight with a gaming company and decides that they will degrade the game performance because they didn’t pay the fees for full performance. What if tomorrow they decide, to charge a subscription fee to get the full performance from the device? What is to stop them from degrading or crippling any other activity they don’t agree with whenever they feel like? The law is in their favor because of DRM, laws like DMCA (and other such laws) make it illegal to bypass the protections they have placed around it.
This is a slippery slope and we can’t trust the corporations to have our best interest at heart when there is money to be made.
There is more discussion on this happening over at HackerNews. Check it out.
– Suramya