Refers to preventing modified versions of open source software from being used on the same hardware that the original version of the software came with. The term was coined by Richard Stallman of the Free Software Foundation over Tivo's use of the GNU General Public License (Version 2) to cover the Linux operating system in the Tivo. Although the license gave users the right to modify Linux, by using digital signatures to identify the operating system, the only Linux that would run in the Tivo is the version that came with the unit. In Version 3 of the license, the Free Software Foundation added wording to prevent Tivoization. See Free Software Foundation, GNU General Public License and Tivo.