CivicActions

CivicActions has been working with the Free Software Foundation on the DefectiveByDesign campaign since last May. In that time we have seen a significant shift in the way DRM is talked about in the news media and an increasing awareness of DRM among music fans and the general public.

Yesterday DefectiveByDesign.org launched an open letter to Steve Jobs. We offered 3 concrete steps Jobs could take to show that he us willing to support his vision for "a world without DRM".

According to slashdot, Red Hat will be a Robin Hood, acquire the DRM patent and not license it to anyone, including Apple or Microsoft. Think they can do it?

http://www.freshpatents.com/Rights-management-system-dt20050623ptan20050...

Last week I particpated in a discussion of DRM and the DefectiveByDesign.org campaign at a meeting of the Cardozo Cyberlaw Society in New York City.

It was interesting to hear these law law students talk about DRM and engage with each other on both sides of the issues.

Several members of the DRM Elimination Crew swarmed over San Francisco leaving behind a trail of stickers in the most likely of places.

Get involved! Here are ten things you can do today.

Do you know about the dangers of DRM? Learn more at DefectiveByDesign.org.

DefectiveByDesign.org a joint project of teh Free Software Foundation and CivicActions got some digital ink this morning in the Chicago Tribune. Columnist Eric Zorn wrote about Amazon's Unboxed license agreement which FSF ED Peter Brown described as: [A] road map for what all content providers want to have down the line: Their goal is to have so many locks and gatekeepers that every interaction you have with copyrighted material becomes a transaction. Cory Doctorow published a point-by-point analysis of the Unboxed license which represents some of the most restrictive and anti user DRM we have ever seen.

This is why we have declared October 3rd the "Day Against DRM". DBD members around the world will be taking part in both virtual and meat-space actions to raise awareness of the dangers of DRM. Check out the site, join an action, or start your own. The only way DRM will fail is if people know about it (and don't take my word for it, that line is borrowed from a Disney Exec!).

At first glance, the PEW report on the Future of the Internet seemed a bit juvenile. Then jumping in to it, I realized those surveyed included Internet luminaries Esther Dyson and Howard Rheingold (among others), and should be taken seriously...

From the report summary:

"A survey of internet leaders, activists, and analysts shows that a majority agree with predictions that by 2020:

* A low-cost global network will be thriving and creating new opportunities in a “flattening� world.

* Humans will remain in charge of technology, even as more activity is automated and “smart agents� proliferate. However, a significant 42% of survey respondents were pessimistic about humans’ ability to control the technology in the future. This significant majority agreed that dangers and dependencies will grow beyond our ability to stay in charge of technology. This was one of the major surprises in the survey.

* Virtual reality will be compelling enough to enhance worker productivity and also spawn new addiction problems.

* Tech “refuseniks� will emerge as a cultural group characterized by their choice to live off the network. Some will do this as a benign way to limit information overload, while others will commit acts of violence and terror against technology-inspired change.

* People will wittingly and unwittingly disclose more about themselves, gaining some benefits in the process even as they lose some privacy.

* English will be a universal language of global communications, but other languages will not be displaced. Indeed, many felt other languages such as Mandarin, would grow in prominence."

Read the full PDF report.

Just like it says. Check out this amazing tool: http://www.scrutinizethis.com/

Submitted by Brooks Cole

Isn't it fun to come to somebody's house and scan their bookshelves or their CD collection to peer into their souls? It's like a holographic UPC code, the soul signature of a person expressed as an array of what interests them and what you share or don't share. If the library belongs to a potential love interest, you might raise your eyebrows at finding How to Turn Your Ex-Boyfriend into a Toad: And Other Spells for Love, Wealth, Beauty, and Revenge or The Encyclopedia of Serial Killers.

I came across this today and really enjoyed it: 95 Theses of Geek Activism. Perhaps it helps that I identify as a hacker in the manner described in the first thesis. Geek Activism is really all about being smart, thinking for yourself and not simply accepting what others say just because they happen to be on TV or run the corporations or government (the differences between these are fading). Read them. Follow the links. You'll learn a little bit more about me - and maybe a little bit more about yourself, too. I'll end with a quote that comes to mind, perhaps because activists are geeks, too (though they may not know it).