Richard Stallman names Day Against DRM

 

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By Barry Collins

Posted on 26 Feb 2010 at 09:43

Free software zealot, Richard Stallman, has declared 4 May as the first Day Against DRM.

Stallman, the president of the Free Software Foundation and founder of the GNU project, claims it's time to raise awareness of the dangers of the copy protection applied to movies, music and other digital content.

"DRM attacks your freedom at two levels," said Stallman. "Its purpose is to attack your freedom by restricting your use of your copies of published works. Its means is to force you to use proprietary software, which means you don't control what it does. When companies organise to design products to restrict us, we have to organise to defeat them."

They are designed to lock people into specific software and devices, destroying your rights to free speech

The anti-DRM day has also won the backing of the Open Rights Group. "DRM is a disaster for legitimate uses of music, film and books," claims executive director Jim Killock.

"They are designed to lock people into specific software and devices, destroying your rights to free speech uses like criticism, education and review. DRM means you lose control, and are at the mercy of vendors."

Although many music services, including the market-leading iTunes, have edged away from DRM, it still remains a prevalent force. The BBC's iPlayer, commercial eBook publishers and leading games publishers all lock their products with copy protection.

The FSF says it will announce details of events for the Day Against DRM as we move closer to the 4 May.