DRM is defective by design!
1. Juli 2006 von dt
What is DRM?
DRM restricts what you can do with the electronic devices you own and the media you buy. It is an attempt by hardware, software and media companies like Apple to seize authority to regulate through technology what you do in the privacy of your home with media you have legally purchased.
Big media companies call this “Digital RIGHTS Management”, hoping you won’t notice all the new restrictions. Since the only right being managed here is their own to restrict you and your behavior, a better name is “Digital RESTRICTIONS Management”.
DRM restrictions aren’t limited to your use of music and movies. They control what you can do with any software or data. Think about how much time you spend with computers, electronics and data. DRM hands control over this part of your life to big media corporations. Chillingly, DRM can also monitor what you do and report on your behavior.
What is wrong with Apple and iTunes?
We have always been able to buy music and copy it for our personal needs. We have all made mix tapes for our friends or burned a copy for our car or for our portable player. Big media companies couldn’t prevent us from doing this through the law, because this wasn’t illegal. They turned to digital technology, effectively making their own law redefining each one of these acts as a new use, demanding additional payment.
Apple is leading the way in diminishing our rights. Every song and every movie you buy from the iTunes music store is infected. At first, the DRM limited you to making 10 copies. That limit was soon lowered to 7. Nothing stops Apple from tightening the screws further, all way down to zero. Imaging have to pay a dollar for every song you burn to a mix CD – or not being able to burn the CD at all.
That’s what DRM is about: taking the control away from you, and giving it to Big media and companies like Apple. The hardware and software they sell enforces their rules, by making it more frustating and expensive for you to do what you want with the things you buy.
Take back your technology! Say no to DRM in your computer, in your home and in your pocket. Stop financing the people who want to restrict you.
Join DefectiveByDesign.Org.
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