DRM And Free Expression

Authors Jason Self

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DRM And Free Expression Home

While not the only reason the former Soviet Union fell apart, samizdat certainly played Linux-libre
a large role in this.

Citizens copied printed works of dissent and handed the papers out to like-minded GitWeb
friends and others. Samizdat undermined the ability of the repressive communist
regime. While the crackdown on independent thinking eventually proved unsuccessful, How To
totalitarian governments around the world continue to shut down independent thought
and free expression. Articles
Free-thinking people in free countries deplore this and yet are willing to allow similiar
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restraints to freedom of expression in their own nations through DRM.

The recording industry and movie companies would prefer you to think of DRM as About Me
Digital "Rights" Management but DRM is better described as Digital "Restrictions"
Management because it restricts your ability to access and share anything in a digital Contact Me
file. This covers ebooks, downloaded or streaming movies, TV shows and software. In
other words, once you buy a DRM-enabled file and depending on the restrictions, you GPL enforced
cannot share the file or use it on another device. DRM can also give the company
access to whatever electronic device the file is stored in.
If you appreciate any of the things I
It is nothing more than an attempt to shut down free expression. It is being pushed am doing you can make a donation.
heavily by the recording industry and movie companies. Ebook publishers have also
signed on as strong supporters.

Sadly many people have purchased devices that implement DRM. When everyone
owns devices with DRM and everyone buys files with DRM the company distributing
those things gains defacto control over what is allowed to be read and shared.

Consider this disturbingly ironic example from Amazon. Some time back, Amazon
accessed all the Kindle ebook readers it has sold and deleted the ebook "1984" from
all of them. Talk about Orwellian!

It's not just the Kindle that is affected. The Nook and Apple's iPads and iPhones also
carry DRM which allows Barnes and Noble and Apple to control what you can see and
read with these devices.

Think about a traditional printed book. Once you buy it, it is yours. You can loan it to a
friend. You can give it away. You can resell it at a used book store. You can swap it to
someone for a different book. The same thing is true with buying a music CD v. a
download from online music stores.

If you get the same thing with DRM all of that disappears. DRM is a basic matter of
rights. Who owns a DRM-encrypted file? Under DRM, the company owns the file
because they decide what you can do with it. Who really owns a DRM-enabled
electronic device if the company can delete things without your consent and prevent
you from using it however you want to?

Of course you can lend your device to someone for them to read your ebooks, which
deprives you of access to the reader and all the books you access with it. Then too,
there's nothing to say that the company cannot declare that is a violation of DRM and
attempt to stop you from loaning your device.

Some ebook publishers refuse to publish authors unless they agree to DRM, even if
they don't want it. Publishers that demand DRM are really controlling the flow of
information and the expression of ideas.

Even though he wrote it many years ago a world of mandatory DRM sounds very
much like the world Richard Stallman describes in his story "The Right To Read."

May 4 is the Day Against DRM. Get more information and find out what you do can to
support this movement to protect your rights at http://dayagainstdrm.org.