The Problem
The Apple iPad uses Digital Restrictions Management in two ways:
- All media in the iTunes store (with the one exception of music) is wrapped in Apple's DRM. That means films, TV shows, movies and audiobooks are locked to Apple's platform, taking away your right to share.
- All applications must be signed by Apple if they are to run, an unprecedented level of control for a general purpose computer. On top of this, Apple can push updates to the device over its wireless connection, letting them add or remove capabilities at any time.
These restrictions make the iPad a particularly dangerous platform for the distribution of news media. Every publisher depends on permission from Apple, and Apple can remotely delete stories after they have been published.
The Protest
Defective by Design activists are on the ground at the Apple iPad announcement. Check out these photos, and help share them:
Resources
Here are some more resources about the iPad, Apple and DRM:
In the News
- FSF press release
- Defective by Design blog post
- Apple iPad spanked with Defective by Design protest
- iPad is nothing more than a golden calf of DRM --Ars Technica
- Apple iPad Arrives Amid Controversy --Information Week
- The Problem with the Apple iPad --Lifehacker
- Apple iPad will Choke Innovation
-- The Register
iPad DRM endangers our rights
Mr. Jobs,
DRM will give Apple and their corporate partners the power to disable features, block competing products (especially free software) censor news, and even delete books, videos, or news stories from users' computers without notice-- using the device's "always on" network connection.
This past year, we have seen how human rights and democracy protestors can have the technology they use turned against them. By making a computer where every application is under total, centralized control, Apple is endangering freedom to increase profits.
Apple can say they will not abuse this power, but their record of App Store rejections and removals gives us no reason to trust them. The iPad's unprecedented use of DRM to control all capabilities of a general purpose computer is a dangerous step backward for computing and for media distribution. We demand that Apple remove all DRM from its devices.
Feb 3rd update: For every 5,000 signatures we get, we will send this giant "1984" postcard to Steve Jobs.
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