Apple DRM Protest

Jun 10, 2006 twenty five to five pm


I headed into San Fransisco to catch the Apple DRM protest that was scheduled for today.  Being the on-time nut that I am, I was there promptly at 10:30 ready to see some hippies get their heads bashed in by the cops.

I have to say I was a little disappointed.  The main group of protesters were dressed up in these lime-green detox suits to represent...ah...what I'm not exactly sure.  The big problem was they looked very amusing and attracted a lot of gawkers that probably figured it was a promotion at the Apple store for some new iThing.  You could almost hear the bystanders saying "That Steve Jobs is a genius...I gotta go in and buy me an iPod".

Look, I may have only be 3 or 4 during the 60's, but I sure as hell know that if you want to have a proper demonstration there needs to be some guy with a megaphone shouting slogans and teams of angry students burning their iTunes gift cards and then the Police need to show up and blow everyone away with high-pressure fire hoses.

That's how you have a protest.

I left early and headed to Starbucks, so maybe all that happened later.


For your viewing pleasure...it's just like you were there:


@googlevideo=http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docId=-2392063294481206153@

Other people's comments:

Posted by Mepnomon on Jun 10, 2006 five to six pm

It was pretty pathetic.
I can understand why people are a bit worried about the Digital Rights Management stuff, but I guess there are bigger fish to fry; and I found the whole demonstration laughable. You never see people protesting against AT&T/SBC whatever turning over our information to the intelligence community, or the house of representatives dismantling the proposed net-neutrality amendment.  At least,going there has served as a great excuse to head over to the little toystore on Montgomery to pick up a plush monkey..lol


I just wonder what kind of message they meant to send... I suppose that when consumers use Ipods and Itunes,they send out a clearer message to the corproations than a bunch of "alien" protesters. So if people don't wanna deal with DRM, well then they may as well buy a Zen or whatever else (though i understand it's less hip to have that, since being an individual is not hip anymore).


Ron, forgive me to have rambled on your page, i was just a bit pissed off this morning

Posted by Edmundo on Jun 10, 2006 quarter past seven pm

A proper demonstration, huh? How about this protest! Don't mind the spanish, just watch what happens.

Posted by Stewart Martin on Jun 11, 2006 twenty to two am

I find it heart warming when I see a nation's people celebrate their love of their leader in such a way.  I only wish people in this nation, the United States, would celebrate their leader in the same way.

Posted by David Thomsen on Jun 10, 2006 ten to ten pm

In New Zealand, I've been in a few protests against student loans and wars and stuff. We occupied one of the university building overnight. We played truth & dare games with the security guards, and one of them bought us the newspaper in the morning to show us how we were doing.

The next day the police finally arrived to kick us out just as the pizza arrived - their timing couldn't have been worse!

In another protest I was the Voice of God to the US ambassador - we had control over the loudspeaker system of the building he was in and I spoke over them claiming to be God accusing him of warcrimes and stuff.

On the news the next day you could see me in the background behind someone burning the US flag, which was kind of cool. Me, on TV!

Yeah. Protests are fun.

Posted by Sven on Jun 11, 2006 two am

Wow - that video rocks!
You should release it on DVD :)

Posted by Haggis on Jun 11, 2006 quarter past four am

No, release it on iTunes!

Also, I'm sending the RIAA after you for using that song without permission.

Posted by space ace on Jun 11, 2006 five past five am

grumpy is back! woo hoo!

Posted by Jonas on Jun 11, 2006 twenty to nine am

I am living in Europe, I love iTunes, iPods, the whole ease-of-use and superior everything. What is this whole issue about anyway, I can ALWAYS just burn an Audio-CD and re-import - takes three minutes for god's sake to do all that - I won't ever by that Creative junk in the first place, DRM on/off/whatever.

Posted by Dermot on Jun 12, 2006 five past nine am

The problem, Jonas, is that you are effectively (though not totally) locked in to one vendor, because Apple won't license their DRM - FairPlay - to other companies. What this means is that if I buy music on iTunes (and I do buy music on iTunes) I can only play it on my iPod. Which is all well and good because hey, I love my iPod. But what if my iPod breaks or gets stolen or I just decide that I want a new digital audio device because I'm a decadent westerner and I decide that I don't really want to shell out on an iPod this time?

Sure, you have the workaround that you outline but I'm not convinced that this is reasonable. I shouldn't have to burn my music to a CD and then re-rip it in order to use it on a new device. And, of course, in Ireland (my country) there is no provision under copyright law to make a backup of your music for personal use or to convert it from one format to another (although I have to admit that there is very very little chance of that particular law ever being enforced and I'm not sure how well it would stand up in court).

I don't have a problem with DRM per se; companies should be able to protect their copyrights but I do have a problem with the way in which DRM is currently being used to limit options for consumers and to impinge on the fair use rights that people have traditionally enjoyed with regard to music, films, books and so on.

Posted by Larry Garfield on Jun 29, 2006 five past ten am

Actually, that's the point.  You can't "ALWAYS" just burn an Audio-CD and re-import.  Right now, Apple deigns to permit you to do so.  Not all DRM  companies do, and Apple is free to change the rules on you at any time after the sale.  They already have!  Remember when you could burn 10 copies of a playlist to CD?  Oh wait, now we're lowering it!

I wasn't at the San Francisco rally, but I was at the Chicago rally.  I admit I don't quite grok the hazmat suits either, but it did get people's attention.  It wasn't as much a protest in the 60s sense (silly 60s), but an informational/leafletting event.  Sure most people just walked by, but some did stop to talk to us and were very receptive.  

I had one man in particular (nice business-dress guy in his 40s or so) who said, "My coworker was showing me his iPod and I was considering getting one, but after talking to you guys I don't think I will."  That's the response we want to hear!  Yes, most people don't know what DRM is right now or why it's such a big deal.  That's why the DefectiveByDesign campaign is so important; to help peple realize what it is and why it is such a big deal.

You're right, DRM isn't as obvious a problem to most people as civil rights or homelessness.  That doesn't make it not important.  The major movie studios, record labels, and software vendors (MS, Adobe, etc.) have openly said that their end goal is a system where you don't own anything on your computer, on your handheld, or on your iPod.  All entertainment, all creativity, all information is rented from them under very tight restrictions, so they can nickle and dime you to death.  Trying to exercise your fair use rights under the law become a felony because of the DRM.  

Imagine if you can't publish an Indy game at all without first paying Microsoft a permission fee to allow it to play on Windows.  That fee is whatever they decide it is, because Windows won't run your game without it.  Modifying Windows to make it run is a felony, as is telling someone else how to do so.  They call it "Trusted Computing", which means "we don't trust you".  And you can't support Mac or Linux even if you wanted to, because Linux is now illegal because Open Source by nature can't prevent the user from using his own computer as he wishes.  

Sound far fetched?  Microsoft openly said in 2003 that was their intended goal.  

What if you couldn't self-publish a CD as an Indy band without paying a similar license fee to use the DRM system that Apple uses?  And if you want to reach RealPlayer customers, you have to pay their permission fee, too.  And again for Microsoft's.  How is any Indy going to be able to afford that?  And you can forget about using CreativeCommons content, because to even get to it then you'll have to agree to a license from Apple (the intermediary distributor) that you won't do those things that a CC license would let you do otherwise.

That's where DRM leads.  iTunes now, and the issues with vender lock-in so you can't use any player but an iPod, are just the tip of the iceberg.  The end goal, openly stated and admitted to, is a system where software on your computer, your music player, your handheld is built ground-up as spyware, and it's a felony for you to remove it.

I wish I were a fringe lunatic saying this, but I'm just quoting press releases from MS, the movie studios, and Apple.

Posted by MC Kingzjester on Jun 11, 2006 twenty past eleven am

I remember fondly throwing eggs at the buildings of the establishment, sniffing tear gas and running away from pigs all too eager to club to a pulp some punk kids who dare not like Miloshevic. We called it exercise.

Then I came to the states, to DC and was looking forward to anti World Bank/NWO rioting... but all my friends who were up for it at first chickened out when they realized their diplomatic parents were in some way associated with the World Bank.

:(

Posted by Jihan on Jun 11, 2006 ten to six pm

I wonder how many non-techie people would actually recognize the word "DRM"? Would the casual onlookers even be able to figure out what the protest is about?

Posted by David Thomsen on Jun 11, 2006 half past seven pm

I looked up DRM in Wikipedia but the article was, um, too big. Yes, far too big. And it had too many... words. So I decided I'd support the protest in spirit rather than comprehension.

Posted by Alice on Jun 12, 2006 five to two am

Hey i think we should start with another protest as i m too frustrated with Apple support and service. What do you say??????

Posted by Michael Cordner on Jun 12, 2006 five to four am

Hey I was just in SF a couple of weeks ago. Lovely city, but doesn't it seem a bit cheeky to be protesting this in the middle of an area with such a massive and obvious cronic homelessness problem?  I mean, maybe nobody sees them anymore (I don't claim to be a crusader for homeless rights or anything,) but if you're going to pick a cause, surely there are far worthier ones in front of your nose?

Posted by Whup on Jun 12, 2006 half past eleven pm

Doesn't it seem a bit cheeky to be protesting homeless rights when there are children in Africa who don't/have-never had access to clean water?  I mean, maybe nobody sees them anymore, but if you're going to pick a cause, surely there are far worthier ones in front of your nose?

I'm not saying you are wrong, but to suggest people should abandon a cause simply because a more worthy cause exists is silly.  There would always be a more worthy cause.  If we just accepted every policy governments and companies pushed on us on the basis that there are more important causes we'd be in an even bigger mess than we are now.

I think...

Posted by Hoffmann on Jun 12, 2006 twenty past four am

Why you people don't protest against Lucas Arts for the Monkey Island franchise?
Anyway protests usually are really dumb in their claims or methods...

Posted by M4SQUER4DE on Jun 12, 2006 twenty five to noon

This article (in french, sorry, but there's a lot of pictures... ^_^) shows what happened this week end in Paris...
Richard Stallman (yes, THE Stallman) had asked for an appointment with french prime minister to give him a paper copy of a petition (165 000 signatures) against a new law called DADVSI legalising the use of DRMs, forbiding the use and programming of peer to peer software, and stuff like that...
Of course,  he was "welcomed" by security forces and ended up sitting in a gutter with the petition, just a few dozen meters from the ministry...
A small demonstration followed later in the center of Paris (about 150 people...)

http://www.pcinpact.com/actu/news/29352-Matignon-se-verrouille-face-a-Richard-Stallm.htm

Posted by gnome on Jun 12, 2006 five past three pm

Ok... so, dear Ron, want to see some old fashioned protests? Have a look:

http://gnomeslair.blogspot.com/2006/06/education-game-greek-style_08.html
or
http://gnomeslair.blogspot.com/2006/06/more-games-from-athens.html

That' ll bring back 60s memories...

(oh, and sorry for the spam :) )

Posted by Mxy on Jun 13, 2006 twenty to noon

THIS is the proper way to do creative political activism: http://www.theyesmen.org

Watch their documentary if you have a chance. I nearly pissed myself laughing several times.

Posted by Marcel Schindler on Jun 14, 2006 twenty five past three am

Funny. Another demonstration that was useless. I guess, the biggest problem about DRM is, that the "usual" customer doesn't know that his rights are restricted. When I buy a usual CD, I can copy it without problems to play the MP3 in my car-audio (because CDs are damn expensive) but this DRM-stuff is hard to play on other devices then I-Pod or Itunes.

Posted by peper on Jun 14, 2006 ten past four am

Resistance is futile on the streets. Buying politicians is how these kind of business is made. So either you will infiltrate their system or you need to buy your lobby. No one cares about some nerds that have seen their best years at the time when the first apple computer were released.

Posted by revil on Jun 15, 2006 ten past four am

the film is very funny :)
you should think about making a big film...

Posted by Hoffmann on Jun 15, 2006 quarter to six pm

Yeah Ron, you are like Michel Moore of the video-game industry.
Besides you can be as much grumpy in a movie as you want to be.

Posted by DasJan on Jun 16, 2006 ten past seven pm

Protests should be like this:
http://www.n-tv.de/679296.html

Posted by David Thomsen on Jun 21, 2006 ten past seven am

I was feeling a bit 'adventurous' so I clicked on the links of the last three people to post here - Margaret, John and Billy.

What the heck? It's the same page! At first I thought it was three different blogs that happened to have exactly the same format and appearance, but on closer inspection this isn't the case. It's some kind of bizarre, slightly misguided spam tactic. But they've gone to a heck of a lot of effort to give the appearance of being regular folk, including posting messages on topic and stuff.

I'm weirded out. It's like the spammers are slowly infiltrating the internet and will eventually be indistinguishable from the rest of us.

Posted by Diego Beltrami on Jun 21, 2006 ten past two pm

Or maybe even YOU are a spammer. Oh My God! Everybody is a spammer, maybe even Ron!
Spammers everywhere... burn the witches! burn the witch... I mean the spammers, yeah, the spammers.

:P

Posted by Hoffmann on Jun 23, 2006 ten past eight pm

Why would I ever want to click in one of those links?
Man, this is almost like those huge FREE PORN ads. I wonder if anybody really click in those

Posted by Fandi on Jun 22, 2006 quarter to nine am

I don't know if anyone posted it earlier, or not:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=1rtiAQk3ojE&search=monkey%20piano

Posted by scott on Jun 23, 2006 twenty past two pm

oh no!  I hope i don't catch DRM.  I hear it's worse than bird flu....

Posted by mark on Jul 6, 2006 ten past five pm

i hope someone does this in Europe so i can stand around in my suit with my ipod with a board saying DRM rules BUT SCREW M$ European commission style...

Posted by Scott on Jul 13, 2006 five to nine pm

That was something..........

Hil.ario.us !
You really had a bad experience.


Regards
Scott

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