Defective by Design

Update: Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos apologizes - see our press release, and Digg this news

This week's Kindle action is going great; together we've generated hundreds of 1-star reviews and tags.

Then there was a great article in Slate by Farhad Manjoo, Amazon's top "expert reviewer" on the Kindle's product page, retracting his recommendation. This would be a perfect article to share with friends and co-workers, to introduce them to the problem of DRM (diggable here).

If you haven't written a review yet, here are direct links to the review forms. Take a few minutes to explain to potential Kindle buyers why they shouldn't get one: 6" Kindle, Kindle DX.

If your review wasn't published by Amazon, definitely let us know. We'll be busy picking our next product to target (if you have any suggestions, email us at info@defectivebydesign.org). In the meantime, we thought we'd share some of our favorite reviews below. Awesome job, everyone.

Digg this!

We are not joking. Late last week, Amazon deleted purchased copies of George Orwell's 1984 and Animal Farm from the ebook readers of hundreds of users. New York Times tech writer David Pogue summarizes it best:

Nokia and DRM, Apple shuts out the Palm Pre, Hollywood confiscates moviegoers' phones, great GPL Games

Hi, I'm Sarah and I am working at the FSF this summer as part of a newly launched internship program. I will be posting new DRM news each Friday. If you'd like to know more about me read my letter of introduction. If you see stories we should mention here, please let me know.

Friday DRM News

Hello, my name is Sarah and I am working at the FSF this summer as part of a newly launched internship program. I will be posting new DRM news each Friday. If you'd like to know more about me read my letter of introduction. If you see stories we should mention here, please let me know. **Apologies for the late post.**

Hello, my name is Sarah and I am working at the FSF this summer as part of a newly launched internship program. I will be posting new DRM news each Friday. If you'd like to know more about me read my letter of introduction. If you see stories we should mention here, please let me know.

The Free Software Foundation and DefectiveByDesign have been working with attorney Ray Beckerman to help fight for victims of the RIAA's baseless intimidation campaign. The RIAA recently took notice, calling our position -- and by extension the position of many other anti-DRM activists -- "virulent" and "baseless."

Digg this story!

DefectiveByDesign activists have been tireless in finding and labeling DRM-infected products on Amazon with tags like "defectivebydesign" and "drm".

In November, Nintendo released the DSi console in Japan. Next month, the rest of the world will be hit by this console. Similar to the previous Nintendo DS and DS Lite consoles, the DSi has two screens and the ability to access WiFi networks. However, in an effort to heavily control what gamers can do with their consoles, Nintendo has chosen to encumber this new version with Digital Restrictions Management (DRM).

We've had a report that HMV's music download service is now at least partially DRM-free and works with Firefox. While their jukebox still requires Windows, regular track downloads are compatible with free software operating systems like GNU/Linux, albeit in the MP3 format, rather than Ogg Vorbis.

See our guide to DRM-free living

Apple has released a new revision of its iPod Shuffle, and in a general sentiment against buttons that began with the iPod and its solitary button, the new iPod Shuffle has no buttons whatsoever. Just a switch.

Apple has unhelpfully put these controls on the headphone cable, so now, you have to use their proprietary headphones. They've also added a feature that Rockbox has had for some time -- sadly, not the ability to play Ogg -- no, instead, a recording of each song's artist and title will be read aloud, before each track.

A petition against DRM in Europe has come to our attention.

Please sign the petition

Epic Games's Gears of War title apparently includes a cut-off date, enforced via DRM. Ars Technica is reporting that the game ceased to function for everyone who bought it on January 28, 2009.

While it's not rare for games to ship with bugs every now and again, it's pretty shocking when one ships with an issue that causes the title to stop working for everyone who paid.

For more Defective By Design discussion and updates, please join us at the microblogging site identi.ca.

The official Defective By Design group to join is "dbd".

See you there!

While others are waking up to the problems with DRM and moving away from it, Microsoft is embracing and defending it.

Do they think we forgot about MSN Music already?

I buy these songs on your service - and they're locked to my phone - what happens when I upgrade my phone in six months' time?

Well, I think you know the answer to that.

With our 35 Days Against DRM campaign ending, how about a 2008 recap to end things off...

Apple

In 2008, Apple released the iPhone 3G, new iPods and the new MacBook with an HDMI display output. A persistent rumor finally came true at the early 2009 MacWorld -- iTunes is now going DRM free, at least for music. Movies, TV shows, Audiobooks and Applications remain encumbered by DRM.

Koh Choon Lin writes:

I am very frustrated by my local media provider, MOBTV, who provides video-on-demand service. It is a subscription-based service that provides viewers with immediate access to their favorite programmes.

Jonathan Wilson writes to us to suggest the PS3, because...

The RIAA has changed its tactic. No longer will they sue random people for file sharing. Now they're going after the ISPs. While many of the large media company ISPs such as AOL, Comcast, etc., will almost certainly comply, what will the smaller, independent ISPs do? How will large telcos like Verizon react?

Internet News reports:

Early on the campaign, we began an open letter to Bono, asking him to stand with us in calling for the elimination of DRM. Seven thousand people signed that petition and wrote messages asking him to support the cause. We have been in contact with Bono and his "people" at various points in the past, and have been told that he will not respond, and that we should accept this as a rejection of our appeal.

Who should your computer take its orders from? Most people think their computers should obey them, not obey someone else. With a plan they call "trusted computing", large media corporations (including the movie companies and record companies), together with computer companies such as Microsoft and Intel, are planning to make your computer obey them instead of you.

Continue reading 'Can you trust your computer?' by Richard Stallman

The notion that music does not deserve the same protection as software, film, video games or other intellectual property, simply because there is an unprotected legacy product in the physical world, is completely without logic or merit.

Nothing like a crazy quotation to open an article...

This at a time when even Apple had publicly declared their distaste for DRM on music. Of course, that took them about two years to realistically implement, but they weren't the only ones saying it.

A recent tactic, in an effort to stop people downloading movies from the Internet, is the "Digital Copy" -- an extra disk containing an iTunes or Windows Media DRM copy of the movie, which can be copied to a supported DRM-player, such as the iPod or Zune.

We've had a few people write in and tell us more about the Digital Copy...

The Windows Media version allows for playback on exactly ONE computer and can only be transferred to said computer ONCE. In one case I accidentally deleted the video in question. Now it is gone for good.

DRM refers to technologies typically used by hardware manufacturers, publishers, and copyright holders to attempt to control how consumers access and use media and entertainment content. Among other issues, the workshop will address the need to improve disclosures to consumers about DRM limitations. Interested parties may submit written comments or original research on this topic.

If you're in the USA, please submit your own response.

As you've no doubt heard, Apple, the last major retailer of DRM-encumbered music announced, live at MacWorld, that all iTunes music will be going DRM-free. Today, some 8 million songs and music videos are already available DRM-free, via iTunes Plus.

Not content with producing a DRM-laden operating system in Vista, Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer have been hard at work, producing the Zune -- yet another piece of Redmond junk you wouldn't want in a million years. Not only do they seemingly fail to get it, repeatedly, but Microsoft under their leadership continues to produce overly fascist products, such as the Windows Media Center -- implementing the Broadcast Flag at the whim of NBC, one of their media partners.

ACTA, the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, is a proposed enforcement treaty between United States, the European Community, Switzerland, Japan, Australia, the Republic of Korea, New Zealand and Mexico, with Canada set to join any day now.

Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont -- paid puppet for the media industry, sponsored the controversial S.3325 bill, aka the "PRO IP" bill.

We've covered the bill in some detail already:-

SDMI, the Secure Digital Music Initiative was one of the first modern DRM schemes came about ten years ago -- a direct response to the widespread success of the DRM-free MP3 file format.

SDMI would use a watermarking feature and wanted to ensure this could not be detected. As such, they announced a challenge, inviting hackers and crypto experts to remove the watermarking.