Tivoization

Tivoization is the practice of creating hardware-software systems in which the software is distributed under a copyleft license, but the hardware does not allow a modified version of the software to run (for example, by means of a digital signature). Tivoization is closely related to a well-known technique used by consumer electronics manufacturers: making inexpensive and premium versions of the same device that differ only in software, as well as to technical measures for protecting copyrighted content on a tivoized device, which are easier to circumvent when the firmware is free.

The name comes from the TiVo digital video recorder, which is controlled by an operating system based on the Linux kernel.