Today is a good day to fight DRM

Today, May 4, 2011, is the Day of Star Wars , yes, and also the day that a number of activist groups led by the Free Software Foundation (FSF) tells the world that DRM is a digital shackle restricts our freedoms as creators and consumers of culture and technology. The essential justification for the movement is in these words spoken by Richard Stallman a few months ago:

The DRM attacks your freedom at two levels. Its purpose is to damage your freedom to restrict the use of copies of your own work. Means the forced use of proprietary software, which means that you do not control what he does. When companies are organized to design products that restrict us, we have to organize to defend ourselves.

From the site Defective by design , the FSF organizes an intense series of activities. For example, labeled with "DefectiveByDesign" DRM items sold by Amazon, including gathering people to protest with banners in front of Apple stores, Best Buy, or other devices dedicated to selling DRM. Also create stickers like this, very good indeed, "the Ibad Mr. Jobs:

DRM technology, ie digital rights management, are designed to impose limits on the use of digital content. Users include manufacturers, pro-copyright organizations, publishers, authors, etc. In practical terms, the DRM is copy protection, nonsense for the times in which the Internet is the great "machine to copy information" .

At the end of the day for DRM only slows access to information, is only a matter of time before a hacker, for example, open the lock and release the information in a P2P network for everyone. Also implement DRM is expensive and is reflected in the final product price, an extra that has nothing to do with what the user wants to buy. Worse still, the DRM-protected content will today, but nobody knows if it will do tomorrow, with other devices or technologies. It's like throwing away books because the ink "has expired." This video illustrates perfectly.

According to Jason Self , to be free as free software, culture must comply with four freedoms:

• to use the work and enjoy the benefits of using
• studying the work and apply the knowledge acquired from it
• to make and redistribute copies, partial or total
• to make changes and improvements, and redistribute derivative works

Each of them is a reason to fight against DRM, today and forever.

Today is a good day to fight against DRM written ALT1040 on 4 May, 2011 alan.lazalde
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