So nobody pitied your choice to agree to prevent users from controlling their computers ("I once worked on a project where part of the technology stack came with a legal requirement to take steps to prevent customers from reverse-engineering").
Well, it's not as if I asked for pity from anyone, including you.
I worked on a consumer-electronics device that happened to have a cheap embedded computer inside it. One feature was to play DVDs. So yes, my soul must forever bear the black stain of having worked on a DVD player that legally licensed the technology to unscramble the CSS protecting DVDs. (You know, the dark secret you can buy on a T-shirt. But go figure, large companies would rather sign a legal license than be sued.)
And nobody pitied you complaining that you couldn't find developers who were willing to be taken advantage of themselvesâ"giving you code in exchange for nothing ("so LGPL was just as radioactive as GPL").
There's that "pity" word again. Where did you get the idea I was looking for some?
We couldn't use LGPL code. So we didn't use the LGPL code. We used something else. I'm not crying about it. I'm sorry that I seem to have upset you so badly.
Or perhaps it was your namecalling (code licensed to not let you hurt others is "radioactive") that helped drive them away.
I apologize for not writing dry, lifeless prose that is inoffensive to all. But I don't apologize very much. I think most people understand that "radioactive" is just a metaphor that means, in this case, "must be avoided".
So, a question: in your mind, selling a DVD player to a customer is "hurting" the customer?
Tell me, I'm curious. Microwave ovens contain embedded computers. Modern cars and digital watches and pocket calculators all contain embedded computers. Do you have source code for all of those embedded computers in your life? If not, do you only drive cars from the 1970s or older, only use a slide rule and an abacus, only wear mechanical watches? In fact, do you own a device that can play DVDs?
Do you feel that the guys who wrote the embedded software in these things should feel guilty over all the "hurting others" they have done?
Do you think that I should feel guilty for working on a DVD player?