89 lines
4.3 KiB
Markdown
89 lines
4.3 KiB
Markdown
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# International Day Against DRM 2016
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Today is the [10th annual International Day Against DRM][day-drm]---a day
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where activists from around the world organize events in protest against
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[Digital Restrictions Management][drm].
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[day-drm]: https://www.defectivebydesign.org/dayagainstdrm
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[drm]: https://www.defectivebydesign.org/what_is_drm_digital_restrictions_management
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<!-- more -->
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DRM is a scheme by which tyrants use [antifeatures][] to lock down what
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users are able to do with their systems, often cryptographically.
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For example,
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your media player might tell you how many times you can listen to a song,
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or watch a video, or read a book;
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it might [delete books][1984] that you thought you owned;
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it might require that you are [always online][always-on] when playing a
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game, and then stop working when you disconnect, or when they decide to
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stop supporting the game.
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If you try to circumvent these locks,
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then you might be [called a pirate][pirate] and be thrown in prision under
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the ["anti-circumvention" privisons of the Digital Millenium Copyright Act
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(DMCA)][dmca].
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These are all things [that have been long predicated][right-to-read], and
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are only expected to get worse with time.
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That is, unless we take a stand and fight back.
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I had the pleasure of participating in
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the [largest ever protest against the W3C][w3c-protest] and their attempts
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to introduce DRM as a _web standard_ via the [Encrypted Media Extensions
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(EME)][eme] proposal.[^photos]
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This event was organized beautifully by Zak Rogoff of the [Free Software
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Foundation][fsf] and began just outside the Strata Center doors where the
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W3C was _actively meeting_,
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and then continued to stop outside the Google and Microsoft offices,
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both just blocks away.
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We were [joined outside Microsoft][eff-protest] by Danny O'Brien,
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the EFF's International Director,
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who stepped out of the W3C meeting to address the protesters.
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Afterward, most of us [traveled to the MIT Media Lab][media-lab] where
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Richard Stallman---who joined us in the protest---sat on a panel along
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with Danny O'Brien, Joi Ito of the MIT Media Lab, and Harry Halpin of the
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W3C.
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The W3C was invited to participate in a discussion on EME, but they never
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showed.
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As a demonstration of the severity of these issues,
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[Harry Halpin vowed to resign from the W3C][hh-resign] if the EME proposal
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ever became a W3C Recommendation.
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I can say without hesitation that the protest and following discussion were
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some of the most powerful and memorable events of my life---there is no
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feeling like being a part of a group that shares such a fundamental
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passion (and distaste!) for something important.
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And it _is_ very important.
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[DRM is pervasive][dbd]---the Web is just one corner where it rears its ugly
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head.
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The [International Day Against DRM][day-drm] gives you and others an
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excellent opportunity to hold your own protests, demonstrations, and events
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to raise these issues to others---and to do so as part of an
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_international group_;
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to send a strong, world-wide message:
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a message that it is _not_ acceptable to act as tyrants and treat users as
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slaves and puppets through use of digital handcuffs and [draconian
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punishments for circumventing them][dmca].
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[^photos]: The EFF has some [great photots][eff-protest]; I'm the one in the
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hoodie between the giant GNU head and Zak Rogoff.
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[antifeatures]: https://www.fsf.org/bulletin/2007/fall/antifeatures/
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[lp2016]: https://libreplanet.org/2016/
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[w3c-protest]: https://www.defectivebydesign.org/from-the-web-to-the-streets-protesting-drm
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[eme]: https://w3c.github.io/encrypted-media/
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[eff-protest]: https://w3c.github.io/encrypted-media/
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[w3c]: https://www.w3.org/
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[fsf]: https://fsf.org/
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[media-lab]: https://motherboard.vice.com/read/we-marched-with-richard-stallman-at-a-drm-protest-last-night-w3-consortium-MIT-joi-ito
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[hh-resign]: https://www.defectivebydesign.org/blog/w3c_staff_member_pledges_resignation_if_drm_added_web_standards
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[dmca]: https://www.eff.org/issues/dmca
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[dbd]: https://www.defectivebydesign.org/
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[1984]: https://www.defectivebydesign.org/amazon-kindle-swindle
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[always-on]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Always-on_DRM
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[right-to-read]: https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.en.html
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[pirate]: https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2015/02/go-prison-sharing-files-thats-what-hollywood-wants-secret-tpp-deal
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