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Yet another great example of a Product with DRM being Defective by Design! Join the movement: Defective By Design

He applauds the Open Source Movement

Actually, I don't think the Open Source Movement has much contribute to the fight against DRM. Let's not forget that Open Source is just a way of writing software. The Free Software Movement however really fought against DRM, for example the Free Software Foundation launched the campaign DefectiveByDesign.org.

It is Defective by Design. Don't buy this stuff

sorry but they are not a yahoo group, they work together with defective by design, badvista, the FSF and the EFF among others: http://www.binaryfreedom.info/ http://badvista.fsf.org/blog/activists-inform-vist a-partygoers-in-boston http://www.defectivebydesign.org/blog/1033 .

After the PS2 class action, the rootkit DRM fiasco, and now this DVD DRM fiasco, how many more times will it take for the public to wake up and realize they have ALL of the power in this situation?
Check out http://defectivebydesign.org/ for details on how DRM hurts consumers.
If you don't buy ANY of their stuff, including movies, you can't get hurt. The last Sony product I purchased was a movie ticket to a showing of Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby.
As for Microsoft avoidance, that's what GNU/Linux systems are for.

How many of you like to have your computers controlled by media corporations and Microsoft? Voting time is now. http://defectivebydesign.org/

Jobs has achieved a BIG GOOD THING.

Really? Did he do a big good thing or did he just make sure he happened to be in the right place at the right time? Remember EMI were talking about doing this before Jobs mentioned it.

Trusty Slashdot economic model(tm):

1. Community demands no more DRM
2. EMI starts running out of cash, so decideds to sell unencumbered mp3's
3. Jobs turns up in a few places: right place, right time. Makes himself look like he invented the whole idea of dropping DRM
4. ???
5. Profit!

Thank yourself, thank the community, thank DefectiveByDesign and the FSF, don't thank someone who made sure they were around to claim all the glory from other peoples hard campaigning! Did you see Jobs out on the street with those DefectiveByDesign chaps? No! Because they were all at his shops, putting labels on his products!

Jobs has achieved a BIG GOOD THING.

Really? Did he do a big good thing or did he just make sure he happened to be in the right place at the right time? Remember EMI were talking about doing this before Jobs mentioned it.

Trusty Slashdot economic model(tm):

1. Community demands no more DRM
2. EMI starts running out of cash, so decideds to sell unencumbered mp3's
3. Jobs turns up in a few places: right place, right time. Makes himself look like he invented the whole idea of dropping DRM
4. ???
5. Profit!

Thank yourself, thank the community, thank DefectiveByDesign and the FSF, don't thank someone who made sure they were around to claim all the glory from other peoples hard campaigning! Did you see Jobs out on the street with those DefectiveByDesign chaps? No! Because they were all at his shops, putting labels on his products!

Hence the phrase "defective by design"

http://defectivebydesign.org/

Annoying -- being treated as criminals and all -- but, compared to DRM, a much better option.

"Defective by Design" usually refers to DRM, since that is what the FSF's campaign against DRM is called.

DefectiveByDesign is referring to a campaign to end DRM. It's pointless and out-of-place on the non-drm related articles that get tagged with it, which I think is the grandparent's point.

How do you return a digital file?

Read the article again: if I understood it correctly, this mandatory cooling off period during which returns must be accepted would only apply to content that has interoperability problems. In other words, it is very likely that it would only apply to DRM-protected content.

So it would obviously not apply to Ogg Vorbis or MP3 music files because these are not tied to specific devices. On the other hand, this would apply to music or other digital content that does not let you exercise your usual consumer rights. And if the music can only be played on one specific device under some specific conditions, then the provider would have to accept returns. Presumably, the DRM protection would also require some sort of online validation to ensure that the DRM-protected content that you are trying to play has not been "returned".

Even if the DRM scheme does not require you to be online every time you attempt to play some protected content, there are ways to limit your ability to play "returned" content. For example, the database holding the keys for all your protected music could be versioned or could use some key chaining that makes it very difficult for you to re-insert a key that has been removed. So even if you restore both the music and the keys from backups, you would not be able to do much with them or you would not be able to play anything else that you downloaded later. Given that the DRM stuff is creeping increasingly deeper into some proprietary operating systems, you may even have to re-install your OS if you want to be able to play the "returned" files. Although this would be possible in theory, I doubt that you would enjoy the experience...

Anyway, don't forget that DRM is defective by design.

Ahh but this time, they pulled out all the stops

DRM is inherently evil and defective by design. Check this movement by Free Software Foundation for details on http://www.defectivebydesign.org/

The answers to Nick White's twenty questions are so far beyond useless that they actually inspire rather than calm fears about the potential and likelihood of Windows Vista's DRM technology being abused and/or abusive.

Tell ya what, Nicky. When my customers start calling me about why their computers are performing exactly as you and Microsoft designed, contrary to what they (the consumers) wanted, I'm going to lay it all out for them, straight and level.

I'm going to tell them who it was who sold them a windowless room and told them it was a wonderful vista. I'm probably going to tell them up whose rear ends they can shove their copies of Windows Vista, a task I'm pretty sure they'll want to do rather violently. Then I'm going to name half a dozen OS products that fit their needs beautifully, products without digital restrictions management (DRM) inhibiting their right to fair use, and not a one of which is a Microsoft product.

Oh, and just to be clear, Nicky, I don't sell computers or operating systems, just computer service and consulting. (I'm often told I should start selling computers, but it'll be a shop free of Microsoft products if I do.)

there seems to be an agreement between Sony and Microsoft that HDCP protection won't actually be required by Blu-Ray discs until at least 2010, maybe even 2012

So basically what this means is that we have three (or at most six) years to get Joe Sixpack pissed off about this. All of us Slashdotters love to bitch and moan about the MAFIAA, but if we got off our collective asses and started making noise about this, we could probably prevent them from ever enabling this.

As for how to do this, well there's no one right way. Defective by Design is obviously relevant, as is the EFF. I think it would be effective for people to develop a little presentation that could be given to people, so those of us who belong to e.g. civic organizations could give a little talk to people about this stuff. Writing your elected officials is probably a good idea as well.

"All DVD players come equipped with a key that fits the lock and allows for playback."

This is the equivalent of leaving your front door key underneath the mat. It won't be long at all until the crack is widely available.

Where this will get implemented is in blockbuster stores. The good news here is the kiosk will probably run windows, so I'm thinking the boxes should be owned pretty quickly too.

I think the point is there are a few bad people that really would look under the mat and go into the house. The rest of us wouldn't so it can be very useful/profitable to media owners.

Hopefully this is the opposite direction of most of the downloaded movie services like amazon who's EULA will make your hair curl. http://www.defectivebydesign.org/en/blog/670

One of the biggest lies is that DRM is somehow neutral, say the way that knives are neutral. It's a lie because it ignores the overwhelming pressure upon groups that naturally have an interest in controlling others others such as corporations and governments, the kind of pressure that creates laws eroding civil liberties such as DMCA, etc. Control by DRM is in principle much more efficient than control by other means and thus all the more appealing to control freaks such as Gates.

I've seen projections for virtually all PCs to have TC/DRM within five years; of course, given the current overall apathy about it, any widely used OS will support it, and embedded devices will be first. The "economic argument" in which we assume we can always buy the nonstandard system free of control does not wash: nonstandard will be more expensive, and once again only the wealthy few will be able to preserve their freedom. As an alternative to cynicism, check out DefectiveByDesign.org for recent updates on the efforts against DRM.

• John Walker
  
• Ross Anderson
  
• FSF
  

The Zune and Creative use Media Transfer Protocol I believe. From what I can tell(from an end-user perspective) it's an utterly useless proprietary protocol Microsoft devised and they're trying to make it a de-facto standard. This protocol doesn't need to exist in my humble opinion. The USB Mass Storage protocols are all anyone would need. I imagine MTP exists so Microsoft can implement Digital Restrictions Management and so they can have control.(control == more_money)

Step 1: Microsoft observes what a good job Apple has done controlling the RIAA and end-users(FairPlay DRM)
Step 2: Microsoft implements MTP and attempts to make it a defacto standard and gain control over the MPAA, RIAA, and end-users(everyone reading this) so they can increase profit margins at the expense of our freedom and Fair Use under American Copyright Law.
Step 3: ??????
Step 4: Profit || Failure

Hopefully step 3 is the market rejects it and it fails. We'll need to educate people so they know their devices are using proprietary protocols that didn't even need to exist but were created to help control you. People need to know, knowledge is power. Most people who know what Digital Restrictions Management is doing and what devices/software have it don't use it. Help spread the knowledge www.defectivebydesign.org

Anti-Microsoft feelings can obscure the real problem--the type of technological abuse.

Microsoft is not the only problem

See updated news items!

• We were raped by Microsoft. Bill Gates did it personally. Introducing Gates to the president of a small company is like introducing Mike Tyson to a virgin.

After rape a little burglary is nothing!

If you doubt Microsoft was behind this, just ask yourself: Cui bono? Can't have Linux on old hardware outdoing Vista on expensive new boxes.

Next on the agenda: beating up little old ladies for violating Vista's built-in DRM!

(Note to the humor-impaired: Yes, this entire post is a joke.)

It just goes to show, if a standard isn't open, you can't trust it. If it's not open, it's not a standard. It's just the lock-in cage of the week.

I can tolerate proprietary software, but proprietary data and data formats are, quite frankly, a bigger problem. This is precisely why. It is also logically impossible to have DRM that does not do this, by nature.

Boycott DRM. All of it. Microsoft's, the **AA's, even Apple's. Yes, that means stop giving money to the pro-DRM campaign by buying iPods, even if it is weak DRM.

Even if there were 15 competing open formats for media that had decent market share, you could easily build a player that supported all of them at negligible marginal cost. With proprietary formats, and especially DRM, you get to pick which company is going to get the right to fleece you, rob you blind, take away your ability to use your own data, and then pull a bait and switch like this on you and make you do it all over again.

I choose "None of the above". You should do.

http://www.defectivebydesign.org/

"DefectiveByDesign.org is a broad-based anti-DRM campaign that is targeting Big Media, unhelpful manufacturers and DRM distributors. The campaign aims to make all manufacturers wary about bringing their DRM-enabled products to market. DRM products have features built-in that restrict what jobs they can do. These products have been intentionally crippled from the users' perspective, and are therefore "defective by design". This campaign will identify these "defective" products, and target them for elimination. Our aim is the abolition of DRM as a social practice."

police investigating a series of murders are taking an "incitement to hatred" tack.

Hundred's of people called "Adam" have apparently been drowned by having their heads plunged into water coolers in offices around Australia.

Detective Ron Steele mentioned:

"It's either an incredible statistical anomaly, or we have a even more incredibly prolific serial attacker in our midst!".

The killer left no clues, except this, the only connecting factor in this attack has been this sign, carefully placed by each water cooler.

You say that as if the RIAA have some kind of God-given right to be paid for that song. Let me assure you that this is not the case.

Nobody has any kind of inherent "Right" to information they create. They never did. And it isn't an issue of fairness, it's an issue of public benefit.

Sure, like anything is a battle for critical mass. If there's enough demand for something it becomes a requirement. Obviously the cable companies will fight any loss of control tooth and nail (often under the guise of preventing piracy). At this point, they are getting away with the walled garden, and with the DMCA (and proposed analog hole/broadcast flag legislation) they will gain more control. That's why awareness campaigns like the FSF http://www.defectivebydesign.org/ are so important. If citizens understand what's going on, that's the first step to them influencing the market (and bad legislation)

• playing chicken with trains
• pissing in the wind
• arguing with brick walls
• repealing the law of gravity

Creative Commons

Defective by Design's List of DRM-Free Music Sites

dmusic

Electronic Frontier Foundation List of "Artists Online"

emusic.com

Fading Ways Records

FreeCulture.org

harveydanger.com

Janis Ian.com

last.fm

Lime Light Radio

live365.com free downloads

MagnaTune

myspace.com

Nettwerk Download Store

R.evolution I.n P.rogress

RIAARadar.com

uncoolcentral.com

Vision Metal Records

I keep a list on my blog and welcome more suggestions.

defectivebydesign

Can anyone explain how Vista will flop given such low computer literacy? To those not yet opposed to DRM consider the following quote:

"If consumers even know there's a DRM, what it is, and how it works, we've already failed" - Disney Executive.

Help oppose DRM by signing up at http://defectivebydesign.org/.

There are still many /.ers not opposed to DRM and yet who are unfairly flamed when in fact they need further education. In particular, learn more about ethics. Reflect on the long struggles to gain your freedoms and rights and how easily they are being snatched away from you (think of a boiling frog http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boiling_frog).

The astroturfing on blogs like /. is worse than ever. So many corporate shills appear that an "Astroturf" moderation category for /. is long overdue.

You're right. It is stupid to "upgrade" to hardware and software that deliberately does less for you. It's Defective by Design.

Consumers need to be more vocal or the producers will shape the market.

Yes, the average user would care about DRM, if only they knew what it was. That is why they don't like it when they can't do what they expected to with the music they just thought they got. No one likes defective products. http://defectivebydesign.org/en/join/fsf

Lest you continue to think what I said, about how the RIAA is rewriting copyright law in such a way as to destroy the internet as we know it, is "hyperbole", why don't you read the court's decision in Fonovisa v. Alvarez, which came down just the other day?

There you will see the kind of nonsense the RIAA is feeding judges who have "incomplete understanding" of technology... and how the judges are actually buying it.

My friend, it takes money to fight this stuff.

And if the technology community doesn't get behind the RIAA victims, it will be a bloodbath that will affect everyone -- not just p2p music file sharers.

Meanwhile, I am gratified to say that the technology community is getting behind these folks.

The "Defective by Design" campaign of the Free Software Foundation has launched a fundraising drive to help the RIAA victims.

And the U.S. Internet Industry Association and Computer & Communications Industry filed an amicus brief in Elektra v. Barker.

So there is hope.

... consumers will do anything to fight its implementation.

Most consumers I know see either:

1. Don't care about DRM, or
2. Never heard of DRM (even if they're currently using it).

Until there are a significantly large number (like.. uhm.. I don't know.. 524,288) of people complaining about every piece of DRM that comes out, it will never die. I'm rooting for these guys: http://defectivebydesign.org/

Corporations can always buy legislation - we see that all the time. We need to make life uncomfortable for the companies pushing DRM. One way of doing this is to get the artists to take a stand against art with locks. Sign the Bono petition today http://defectivebydesign.org/petition/bonopetition /

"The whole HD format just isn't looking to be very user friendly. That's going to hurt it. I think there's a very decent chance it will be repeat of the "LaserDisc"."

And so could these guys Defective by Design

http://www.defectivebydesign.org/

user warning: Can't create/write to file '/home2/clients/databases/b_nodrm/tmp/#sql_9f8_0.M YI' (Errcode: 28) query: SELECT DISTINCT(p.perm) FROM role r INNER JOIN permission p ON p.rid = r.rid WHERE r.rid IN (1) in /home2/clients/websites/w_nodrm/public_html/4.7.2/ includes/database.mysql.inc on line 120.

I nominate this the soup du jour in the book of irony.

We need to stop this now. If every slashdotter joins then we can.

http://defectivebydesign.org/join/fsf

I couldn't agree more.

The fact that machines are being built to suppress what people can do with them rather than to enhance our abilities to grow and perhaps go beyond their intended purposes makes them defective by design. Imagine not being able to make a copy of your music for use in your car because you already have one at home, one at your office, and three that were made for iPods (the first two of which were lost or broken). What if you wanted to include it in a mix tape [sic]?

Or it's like buying a computer that will only run M$ software - software that purposely spies on everything you do so that M$ can "protect" you from doing something their contract (that you signed when you turned the machine on) disallows.

It's FUBAR.

The FSF has recently launched the Defective by Design campaign. This campaign is an initiative to provide activism opportunities for free software activists and is 'new territory' for the FSF. In the last 30 days, DefectiveByDesign has received press in Reuters, Financial Times, BusinessWeek, US News and World Report, BBC and over 40 publications in the tech space. The project was launched in response to the most recent FSF members meeting earlier this year, where many FSF members discussed ideas about bringing the fight for free software into the mainstream.

Attacking Apple effectively will have much more impact than making a smaller impact on a number of companies/organizations that include Apple. Apple has built a brand based on user and creator friendliness. They should not be permitted to bathe in the glow of helping creators and user-friendliness while propagating user-hostile technology like DRM. Apple needs a strong incentive to use their leverage with media companies to roll back DRM restrictions - right now, very little such incentive exists.

Call me cynical, but does anyone else find it sad that this is promoted as such a "cause" to fight for? Has consumerism come so far that we are now protesting the things we buy? This isn't really the context that I think of when I think of a 'freedom fighter' (their label, not mine).

Though, I suppose, it's not like there are any wars or civil liberty issues to protest nowadays.....

All that being said, DRM sucks.

You mean Apple's digital downloads aren't also locked down, too expensive (and jeezus, $2 for a single music video or SNL skit?!), and a pain in the ass for everyone involved? That's news to me!

They should just label it as it is...or perhaps people can just produce a few hundred thousand labels and label the products on their own. Here are some anti-DRM labels from the Defective By Design folks.

We are already organizing protests. Come, join us in our effort. http://www.defectivebydesign.org/

to create the illusion of a 'counter-culture uprising against the iPod'

• What the FSF has to say for itself about this is excellent, as usual.
• What Defective by Design has to say for itself is usefull too.

Yes, universally used DRM will eliminate free software and form a basis for universal censorship and information control. Even the author agrees to that, but he thinks that something else can and will happen all by itself and we don't need these "political" people. It's very easy to see how wrong he is.

The threat is as real as the pressure M$, the BSA, the RIAA, the MPAA, book publishers and news publishers can put on device and law makers. How many "normal" people will chose software freedom over "popular" music and movies? Look at the way the RIAA ran music shops: RIAA exclusive or no RIAA at all! It's not that people are stupid, it's that the choice they will be given is unacceptable: let us control anything that's a media player or you don't get any media. Right now, while the big publishers are behaving and few people know about alternative media, it's easy for people to get trapped by convenience. If nothing is done now, lawmakers might remove all choice by mandating DRM in all devices. Then the nascent free media movement can be crushed and the radio empires will survive their technical obsolescence and be able to push down restrictions analog media never had.