>for lack of a better term to describe that practice, I keep on calling it Tivoization.
Digitally handcuffed hardware that is designed to make it cryptographically impossible for the user to control the software, or something similar, is the only way to accurately describe it without causing confusion.
Describing something that Tivo didn't do, as "Tivoization" is clearly confusion.
Handcuff-ization or similar seems much clearer.
>you could say it's digital handcuffs in the other components. but it's not the program itself stopping you from doing things.
Yes, the program is digitally handcuffed, rather than the program having digital handcuffs.
>e.g. on Wikipedia, is pretty clear and well-referenced: it's about blocking the execution of modified versions, without any mention to other programs' refusing to function along with the modification.
I actually checked the references on realizing that the article was wrong - most of the references are either unrelated, or contain the complete opposite of what the article claims.
GNU/翠星石
npub1lt…ynuyv
2026-01-23 13:14:41 UTC
in reply to nevent1q…gcrd
Author Public Key
npub1lteytmkwe0d84tpngrt86e2ysh5wyh4cngl04cekfywx0732r20q7ynuyvSeen on
wss://relay.momostr.pinkPublished at
2026-01-23 13:14:41 UTCEvent JSON
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"content": "\u003efor lack of a better term to describe that practice, I keep on calling it Tivoization.\r\nDigitally handcuffed hardware that is designed to make it cryptographically impossible for the user to control the software, or something similar, is the only way to accurately describe it without causing confusion.\r\n\r\nDescribing something that Tivo didn't do, as \"Tivoization\" is clearly confusion.\r\n\r\nHandcuff-ization or similar seems much clearer.\r\n\r\n\u003eyou could say it's digital handcuffs in the other components. but it's not the program itself stopping you from doing things.\r\nYes, the program is digitally handcuffed, rather than the program having digital handcuffs.\r\n\r\n\u003ee.g. on Wikipedia, is pretty clear and well-referenced: it's about blocking the execution of modified versions, without any mention to other programs' refusing to function along with the modification.\r\nI actually checked the references on realizing that the article was wrong - most of the references are either unrelated, or contain the complete opposite of what the article claims.",
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