Alexander Grundner at eHomeUpgrade writes

"We're all familiar with protests against war, cruelty to animals, and such, but how about DRM (digital rights/restrictions management)? Enter Defective By Design, an anti-DRM advocacy group backed by the Free Software Foundation (FSF) that has started targeting “Big Media, unhelpful manufacturers and DRM distributors.” The group aims to identify “defective” products for consumers and recruit technologists to help bring awareness to the public of the evils of DRM – even if it means having to wear hazmat suits to get people's attention.

From the Seattlest:

but the point is that if you don't like how your software's performing there are other options out there. Now, if it's built into your computer hardware (this protest was staged outside of a Microsoft hardware engineering conference) AND it's mandated by law that you must use DRM-capable hardware (people are working on it) then you're screwed and it's time to put on a haz-mat suit and walk around downtown.

Ina Fried writes Protesters in hazardous materials suits marched outside the Washington State Trade and Convention Center on Tuesday, where the software maker was kicking off its Windows Hardware and Engineering Conference (WinHEC). The demonstrators, from the Free Software Foundation's Defective by Design group, were lobbying against Microsoft's digital-rights management technology, which restricts copysharing." Read the story.

Brian Ward of Tech Effect writes "When Bill Gates took the stage for a keynote speech on the future of Microsoft and the upcoming release of Vista little did he know that men in hazmat suits were lying in wait. Defectivebydesign.org is a group of color-coded anti-DRM crusaders, and they made their presence known in Seattle with a rip-roaring good time of a protest. This grass-roots organization has applied the golden rule of protesting to their latest effort to eradicate digital rights management (or as t

Personal Computer World reports "Anti-Digital Rights Management (DRM) protesters from the Free Software Foundation have gate-crashed Microsoft's Winhec developers conference in Seattle.

Wearing bright yellow suits, the Free Software Foundation protesters swarmed around the Winhec convention entrance, telling the delegates that the Microsoft-backed DRM was defective and hazardous to users." Read the story.

Nick Farrell writes "MICROSOFT developers clustered around their supreme Vole Bill Gates to hear him spout forth on the future of its updated operating system Vista were startle when the event was crashed by Open Flying Saucers." Read the story.

Cory Doctorow writes "Protestors from the Free Software Foundation's excellent Defective By Design anti-DRM campaign staged a surprise demonstration yesterday... Defective By Design promises lots more grassroots activism, street theater, and direct action against DRM."

Andrew Becherer, one of the freedom fighters who attended the Microsoft action today posted a great comment on slashdot:

I am proud to say that I participated in today's FSF event.

I believe the combination of Digital Rights Management technology and the Trusted Computing initiative are the single greatest threat to a free software desktop. I believe the danger is not just that we will be pushed into a desktop ghetto where we will not be allowed to enjoy the newest movies and music.

RMS' Right to Read [gnu.org] might seem far out for most folks I believe he is point on. DRM will tie media to an user or possibly an user and a specific machine. DRM will allow corporations to gather unprecedented amounts of information about us. If we are not vigilant we are headed into an Orwellian dystopia where all of our digital habits are carefully monitored and controlled.

Tell the world (or at least the people you see every day) how you feel about DRM. Buy a t-shirt to support the campaign.

Bruce Byfield writes "Planned as a flash event, today's protest was deliberately kept secret over the last few days. The Electronic Frontier Foundation alerted its members in Seattle, and information was posted yesterday to the Bellingham Linux Users' Group mailing list, but the three dozen supporters who showed up at the corner of Pike and 7th in downtown Seattle at 8 a.m. had little idea exactly what form the protest would take until shortly before they ducked into an alley to change into t

Howard Rheingold just posted "At 8:30am this morning, wearing neon Hazmat gear, 25 techology activists from FSF & EFF swarmed the 2006 Windows Hardware Engineering Conference in Seattle. Following the lead of the French anti-DRM activists, the new initative, Defective By Design, is signing up activists interested in getting involved in local actions to bring awareness to the crippling effects of DRM on art, literature, music or film, and free software. "

Slashdot writes "The Free Software Foundation launched a new anti-DRM initiative today with a flash protest at Bill Gates’s keynote speech to Microsoft developers in Seattle. They’re calling the new campaign ‘Defective by Design’ and have named Big Media, device manufacturers and proprietary software companies as targets. CivicActions is participating as a coalition partner in the campaign. Protesters donned HazMat suits, apparently to emphasize the hazard Digital Restrictions Management poses to their rights. There are a

Linmagazine, theonline newspaper for the Linux, open source and free culture communities in Israel just released an article (in hebrew) on our launch.

View today's press release for the WinHEC action in seattle

Ward Vandewege writes "I’ve had it. I’m sick of region encoding on DVDs and video games. I’m sick of crippled (’copy-protected’) audio CDs. I’m sick of DRM’d music. I’m sick of the fact that I can’t legally use the DVDs I purchased on the computer I purchased because it runs GNU/Linux." Read Ward's Blog.

Dana Blankenhorn at ZDNet writes "The Free Software Foundation brought its campaign against Digital Rights Management to Seattle this morning, in the form of a "flash protest." Read it.

I've posted a short video clip of this morning's DefectiveByDesign DRM Elimination Crew action at the Microsoft WinHEC2006 in Seattle. About 25 DefectiveByDesign members came out around 7:30 to spread warn WinHEC attendees of the dangers of DRM.

For videos check out the group on YouTube
and for pictures on Flickr