IDAD 2022: Celebrating the freedom to share with a new advocacy video

In our sixteenth annual International Day Against DRM (IDAD), we stood up for the freedom to share cultural works, continuing our fight against Digital Restrictions Management (DRM). Each year, the Free Software Foundation (FSF) rallies anti-DRM advocates from all over the world for a day of action against digital restriction. This year was no exception, building on the recent efforts we've made in our year-end fundraiser to draw attention to something vitally important for the free software movement and cultural endeavors alike: the freedom to share.

In addition to our call to use DRM-free media as a springboard for starting a conversation about DRM with a friend or loved ones, we took to the streets of Boston to interview passersby on how they felt about digital sharing. At first, it seemed like a strange request to our interviewees, but its supposed "strangeness" highlights the success corporations like Disney and Netflix have had on the public consciousness. Just what does make a digital file so different that we're barred from sharing it with a friend in person, or passing it down the family line like our favorite books? The results that we received were interesting to say the least, and we'll have more to say about them in the future.

Our interview with Muhammad marks the first of this small series. We'll be publishing others to our social media accounts and Peertube channel in the form of a playlist, and naturally, they're free for you to download, modify and share for use in your own anti-DRM advocacy. We'll release three more interviews in the coming weeks, building forward momentum in the fight against DRM.

Watch (and share!) the video here.

Screenshot from video that says International Day Against DRM 2022 | defectivebydesign.org and has a person with a microphone standing in front of a sign that says Boston. At bottom, it says FSF staff ask passersby in Downtown Boston and at a local skate park questions about sharing. #FreedomToShare

IDAD may be over this year, but our work against DRM continues. We invite you to join us in campaigning against DRM in whatever way interests you, whether that's suggesting edits and making corrections to the Guide to DRM-free Living, joining our strategy discussions in the #dbd IRC channel on Libera.Chat, spreading the message about the Defective by Design campaign far and wide through the use of our printable resources, or by continuing to speak out for your rights wherever you can. We're always on the lookout for anti-DRM success stories as well, so if you've had some results you'd like to share with us, please write us at campaigns@fsf.org. And as always, thank you to the participating organizations who joined us for this year's event!

Together, let's make sure that the freedom to share is secured for future generations: whether that's code passed from developer to user, books or music passed down through the family, or sharing art that's impacted us with a friend. Just as locking down media with DRM is a fundamentally antisocial (and anticultural) act, choosing to do the opposite can only bring benefit to human society.