35 Days Against DRM: MacBook

Once again, Apple have pushed their DRM agenda even further, with the release of the latest revision of their MacBook laptop computers. The new MacBooks contain a hardware chip that prevents certain types of display being used, in an effort to plug the analog hole. 

Defective by Design: MacBook

Source: DefectiveByDesign.org

25 Arguments for the Elimination of Copy Protection

Anti DRM Logo

Copy protection (also known in recent years as Digital Rights Management) just stinks. At its best, it creates minor but real inconveniences for the people who pay for stuff; at its worst, it badly screws up their experiences with the products they buy. Let’s just say it-the world would be better off without it.

Most of the best arguments against copy protection aren’t so much arguments as case studies. Over and over, it’s caused both anticipated and unanticipated problems. Including ones for the companies who use it.

So let’s review the case against copy protection by looking at what it’s done for us over the past 25 years or so. Warning: Persons whose blood boils easily should read no further…

Source: Netzpolitik.org

Steal this Comic

Steal this Comic

Source: xkcd.com

A guide to DRM free Living

DefectiveByDesign.org has created a guide to DRM free living.

Welcome to our brief guide to living a DRM-free existence. We want to provide a range of links pointing you toward online stores, video/music players, software and hardware that will help you take back your rights as a concerned customer and citizen.

Their blog entry mentions that help finding DRM free services is appreciated.

Please let us know about your favorite DRM-free sites and we’ll add them to the Guide. With your help, this spring we can build a comprehensive guide to DRM-free living.

Source: DefectiveByDesign.org

Apple restricts user rights… again

DefectiveByDesign.org reports that Apples Digital Restriction Management (DRM) is obstructing legal creativity.

People sometimes think of DRM as solely a means to prevent copying, but the fact is that it directly obstructs other legitimate work.
Apple’s recent update in … Mac OS X is … disables crucial features in video-editing software.
Attempts to export videos from many applications after the update results in a DRM permissions error.
Worse yet, it is not possible to roll back to a previous version of QuickTime without doing a full operating system reinstall. The supposed system upgrades are actually people from exporting their preventingown video.

More attacks on user rights from apple
Apple and Sony attack digital freedom
Screw you Apple iPhone

Source: DefectiveByDesign.org

Act against Amazon

Amazon did the right thing with selling DRM free (= not copy protected and no lock-in) music.
But as it seems this decision was only done with having increased sells in mind. As the FSF puts it

… It seems that Amazon only cares to oppose DRM when they can profit from it, such as when they advertise their MP3’s as “Play Anywhere, DRM-Free Downloads.” The same is not true for Kindle ebooks. Perhaps if they were honest they would advertise their ebooks as “Play Only Here, DRM-Laden Kindle Ebooks.” …

But what is this kindle? It is an electronic paper hardware which allows you to read e-books. Which is just fine. But the e-books which you can buy from amazon.com are DRM infected, which means that you can only read them with kindle and no other hardware or software. This is the kind of vendor lock-in which is stealing users rights.
If we are to accept this, chances are that the broad rights you have with books will be gone. Amazons found even said this in the year 2002

When someone buys a book, they are also buying the right to resell that book, to loan it out, or to even give it away if they want. Everyone understands this.

Now he is trying to destroy this rights.

But what CAN we do to prevent this? Obviously enough: Don’t buy e-books from amazon.com and show them that we don’t like this kind of lock-in and stealing of user rights.

Secondly it’s very important to tell others about this (which I do right now). A nice way of doing this is to tag the kindle e-books on amazon.com with

kindle swindle, defectivebydesign, drm

If enough people tag the products with this, people will recognize it and will ask questions.

Howto (from defectivebydesign.org):

Amazon makes it very easy to tag pages if you have javascript enabled.

• Go to a product page.
• Press “tt”.
• Enter the tags: kindle swindle, defectivebydesign, drm

If javascript is not enabled pressing “tt” will fail. So instead, merely enter the above tags under the section titled “Tags customers associate with this product.”Our goal is to make “Kindle Swindle” the number one tag on the Kindle and on Kindle ebooks, so please help us and get tagging!

Also helpful is the list of all kindle related products so you can go and tag them one after one.

More Information
More Details on the kindle swindle
The complete howto for acting against amazon’s kindle swindle