36 9 min 11 mths

People all over the world spoke out against Digital Restrictions Imperialism with flyering, rallies, jam sessions, and writings. International Day Against DRM was a landslide of community activism in support of media users’ rights. Protestors at the New York City Apple store were evicted by uncomfortable security guards. Principled cooks in Italy created painfully spicy — but tasty-looking — DRM-themed snacks to illustrate the bait-and-switch deception of DRM-encumbered media and digital assets. And a solitary activist took on the entire University of Illinois at Chicago campus with nothing but a few hundred flyers and an unflappable attitude. As of the time of this writing, we’ve heard about three times as many organized events as last year, a total of fifteen. Great job, anti-DRM community! May 8, 2021

This was an empowering and memorable ninth International Day Against DRM, and it shows our efforts to raise public awareness about DRM are working. But our work is far from over. Even if you are ready to pledge a lifetime commitment to the iPod as your only brand of music player or iPhone as your only cell phone, you may find that copy protection will, sooner or later, cause you grief. You are always going to have to buy Apple stuff. Forever and ever. Because your iTunes will not play on anyone else’s hardware. It is true for most of big brands and their affiliates.

APPfied services dictate what we watch, use surveillance on us while we watch it, and through it all, make use of digital restrictions to keep viewers helpless and unable to exert meaningful control on how they choose to experience movies, music, television and education. Not only do they keep subscribers trapped in the “walled gardens” of their service, but these dis-services dictate exactly how the works they distribute can be viewed, down to mandating the use of proprietary software and hardware that curtails user freedom. We deserve better.

To support DRM and digital liberty, we are streaming good music with self-permission …. which corporate oligarchies cum cronies advocates to own copyright & patents, so it can share our art back to us for its capital growth and why? Create, share and listen to streaming music playlists for free and fight for westernized LOL profiteers taking over your right to art with smart ancestral copyright corruption laws, mobile apps and modern junk. We also help transparent entities to create and publish their own media channels or platforms and establish communities (mobile, apps, ai bots, iot code, tech ideas, audio, video, website) to build on free and open Internet – source of NetNeutrality!

36 thoughts on “Community activists are stars of justice against DRM & digital imperialists

  1. Education also needs our attention. The recent introduction of Pearson’s “Netflix of textbooks” model inhibits students’ rights to education by digitally constraining their learning environment. With our 2019 [International Day Against Digital Restrictions Management (DRM), we are exposing our rapidly diminishing authority over our technology, as exemplified by Pearson. Steps like these set a dangerous precedent for all readers, no matter their age or location.

    More at https://www.defectivebydesign.org/blog/help_defend_right_read_stand_against_drm_october_12th

  2. While in quarantine, we’ve all been conscious of how the way we engage with our favorite films, television, music and even education. Many (if not most) homes connected to a high-speed Internet connection have turned to streaming services that peddle DRM to seek entertainment, subjecting themselves to onerous restrictions in exchange for a way to pass the time. The Defective by Design campaign exists to raise awareness about the injustice of these services and other ways that media conglomerates use DRM to deprive computer users of their freedom.

    In last few years since rise of these services, we’ve seen their influence grow from a mere drop in the bucket of video distribution to a stranglehold on global culture. Each more poorly named and unnecessary than the last, these APPfied services dictate what we watch, surveil us while we watch it, and through it all, make use of digital restrictions to keep viewers helpless & unable to exert meaningful control on how they choose to experience movies, music, television & education. Not only do they keep subscribers trapped in “walled gardens” of their service, but such dis-services dictate exactly how the works they distribute can be viewed, down to mandating use of software & hardware that curtails user freedom. We deserve better!

    The influence the DRM industry has on the Web shows itself more strongly with every day that passes, which is why we need grassroots efforts like IDAD to raise awareness of the serious ethical issues brought on by DRM, and what community efforts can do to stop it (remember the smarties will call us anti-development to keep its paying masses engaged).

    Streaming Covid DRM with more stronger slaps to TRP ROI capitalists, social industry vs capital pimping

  3. This year’s annual day in protest of Digital Restrictions Management (DRM) will be on December 4th, 2020, and will focus on streaming services’ unjust use of DRM. We need your help to spread that message far and wide to both anti-DRM activists and those simply concerned with how in a world with continued technological advancement, our digital freedoms are increasingly under threat.

  4. Like any infestation, the problem gets worse when it’s ignored. “The war at home” against streaming services continues, and anti-DRM activists from all over the world will be ready on December 4th to help pave the way to a future without DRM.

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  6. चलती चक्की देख के, दिया कबीरा रोय।
    दुइ पट भीतर आइके, साबित गया न कोय।।

    Chalti chakki dekh ke, Diya kabir roye
    Dui patt bhitar ayike, Sabit gaya na koye

    चलती हुई चक्की देखकर कबीर जी रोने लगे चक्की के दोनों पाटों के बीच आकर कोई भी दाना साबित नहीं रहा। अर्थात् इस संसार रूपी चक्की के पाटों के मध्य हर किसी को पिसना है।

  7. जल में बसै कमोदनी, चन्दा बसै अकास।
    जो है जाको भावता, सो ताही के पास।।

    Jal mein basai kamodni, Chanda basai akaas
    Jo hai jako bhavta, So taahi ke pas

    कमलिनी के स्थान जल है लेकिन वह चन्द्रमा से ऐसा प्रेम करती है कि उसे देखते ही प्रसन्नता से खिल उठती है जब कि चन्द्रमा उससे लाखों मील दूर आकाश में रहता है उसी प्रकार जो जिसके प्रेमी है वे दूर रहकर भी उनके पास रहते हैं।

  8. Difference between ideal vs practical life, equals social industry vs capital pimping. Both basic cultures are popular in our civilizations.

  9. Repeat: Everyone acting sweet is not a friend, maybe a paid political businessmen, covert gang of shrewd heyha profiteeters. Beware before buying their ..ist type viral hate syndrome for real people. Its for you as human-race to care, those souls killed are left as martyrs, do not really care if some bhakts likes or dislikes anyway.

  10. There is such a value (indeed, a legal principle) that limits the government – it is considered improper for the government to take adverse action against you without evidence, normally heard in court – but we aren’t dealing with the government. We’re dealing with private organizations here.

    Think for a moment about the implications of a claimed value. It would mean that no person could make any judgment of another, positive or negative, for any purpose, on any basis other than evidence heard in court. It’s preposterous, and completely unworkable – there aren’t enough courts to even begin to make all the judgments that would be required. And even you aren’t behaving in a way that’s consistent with it. After all, you’re judging a company as lacking integrity, and there’s certainly been no evidence heard in court to that effect. And you’re (at least implicitly) judging its owners as less than “any average educated person”, despite at least some having evidence to the contrary.

    Now, if you instead state the value as “do not consider anyone malicious without evidence”, I’d agree with you – we should not make judgments of others, and particularly in ways that affect those others, without evidence. But if that’s the value, then company isn’t violating it – inclusion on a list is evidence of nefarious history. It isn’t conclusive evidence, to be sure, but it is evidence.

    And earlier in time I discovered that many of the online “watchdogs” such as Google Safebrowsing, the Firefox reports, Macafee, WOT, and similar, may be influenced by the anonymous members of the “community”, who may maliciously tag the website to be malicious.

  11. Your work email account is most likely implemented through Gmail or Outlook; your office’s software is likely to be served by Amazon Web Services, along with all the data backups; your company’s customer service is likely to be managed through Salesforce or SAP, and so on. Make no mistake, this is true for your local government and school networks, too!

    In contrast, we never jumped on the outsourcing wagon, and we don’t use any [Service as a Software Substitute] (SaaSS) in our operations. We run our own email servers, telephony and fax service, print shop, full server stack, backups, networking, systems monitoring, accounting, customer relationship management (CRM) software, and a long list of other tasks and software development projects, with a team of just four extremely dedicated technicians. And we implement this on hardware that has been carefully evaluated to meet very high ethical standards, criteria that we push for vendors to achieve through our [Respects Your Freedom] certification program.

  12. Student laptops, smart apps and educational services are often available for a steeply reduced price, and are sometimes even free. However, they come with real costs and unresolved ethical questions. In short, technology providers are spying on students – and schools, which often provide inadequate privacy policies or no privacy policy at all, are unwittingly helping them do it.

    Ref: https://www.eff.org/wp/school-issued-devices-and-student-privacy

  13. The High Priority Free Software Projects (HPP) list is an initiative from FSF which draws attention to areas of development of strategic importance to the goal of freedom for all computer users, and highlights specific projects within these areas. The HPP list helps guide volunteers, developers, funders, and companies to projects where their skills and resources can be utilized, whether they be in coding, graphic design, writing, financial contributions, or activism.

  14. Why security & privacy is a problem, if you’re not doing anything bad?

    Not a problem if you enjoy unwanted people entering your home, peeping through windows, spraying poisons or viruses, installing cameras in your rooms. Same physical rights apply directly to digital rights. You should not want unknown people having access to your digital files, your photos, emails, website history, or your camera or microphone. Your home is your private life, your digital life should have the same rights and protections. If you’re relaxed and cool, you’re allowing governments and companies to infringe anyone’s privacy, including mine.

    Wish you a secure & healthy new year 2021. https://www.wisepoint.org/2100

  15. Sir Kapital Kings of Gujjustan dares activists and global Tweeties for its own desi cronies cum bhakts Koosites, decentralize social media before the black empires expand – sucking, fucking, shrinking and banning real Internet further!

  16. The current breed of digital and social leaders put masks to mock, just for nobel PR marketing edge via a terrifying panopticon for surveillance + always-listening black box PA devices in too many homes & pockets!

  17. One takeaway is how proprietary, commercial entertainment properties are so massive and have colonized our imagination so thoroughly that pretty much any character or story you think you’ve created originally could be said to be fan art or fan fiction. And if you don’t have the right to create and share these putative derivations, do you have the right to create or share anything at all?

  18. Be careful of attempts of online cheating and forgery, which is quite cool for MLM right-wingers. Please find below some of the typical cheating cases / attempts and the suggested measures to avoid falling prey to fraudsters:

    Case-1. A person received a phone call from a stranger posing himself as Govt Medical staff asking for advance booking of Covid-19 Vaccine on Govt rates. The stranger asked the customer to open the Link sent to him on his mobile via text message and fill up the information relating to his Name, Date of Birth, Bank account details and provide the OTP sent to his mobile for Verification.

    Correct choice should be as under:
    One should not open the link and should not share any information about bank account and OTP / PIN etc. One should immediately disconnect the phone
    call and remove the link. No Medical Staff from Govt. is supposed to call citizens for advance booking of Covid-19 Vaccine.

    Case-2. A customer of a Bank received a phone call from a stranger for updating KYC details in bank account immediately. The person was introducing himself as Branch Manager. The so-called Branch Manager asked him for his name, Date of Birth, ATM Card Number, Card expiry date and OTP. The so-called Branch Manager was creating panic on the pretext of Blocking of ATM Card immediately if KYC details and OTP are not provided to him.

    Correct choice should be as under:
    Never share any information and OTP with any other person. Bank staff never calls to obtain sensitive information from any customer over phone. This
    may be a fraud call and the fraudster may cheat customer by transferring money from customer’s Bank account.

    Case-3. A customer receives a call from a stranger offering high amount of loan on nominal interest without paper formality after filling up
    information in the link sent with the message. Immediately after filling up the information, customer receives a call from other stranger introducing
    himself as Manager of a reputed finance company asking for information about Bank account and OTP for verification before disbursement of the loan.

    Correct choice should be as under:
    One should never rely on such calls / messages / links received from strangers. One should believe the fact that none of reputed financial institutions including Banks disburse loans without proper identification and due diligence. Never share Bank account information / OTP or PIN with any other person.

    Poor folks like me are always alert, as much practically possible. But if you’ve excess wealth, jolly well enjoy such phone calls, whatsapp or text messages and emails received from strangers offering you Lottery / Prize / Gift / Loans / attractive job offers and many such MLM offers.

  19. Just mass fooling millions of citizens, do today’s mafia sponsored imperial and capitalistic governments have even 1% of Bhagat Singh vision? No, but you see Kotler is more profitable!!

  20. Telecom industry is one of the most profitable and rapidly developing industries in the world though it is just a basic public utility like Government, Electricity, Media, Railways, Judiciary, Bureaucracy, Airports, Roads, Ports, Housing, Water etc..

  21. Primary stakeholders desperate to Linking your Aadhaar with PAN & Genome are:
    1. The Private Government
    2. The Telecom & Co
    3. Banks & Tax Collectors

    Only Goals: Profiteering & Surveillance to benefit their own insider crooks

  22. Copying success of creeping big giants like Microsoft, Google, Facebook, Whatsapp, Amazon etc.. XXG telecom monopolies are strategically forming – their profiling filters are getting more active and smarter.

  23. When mutated journalists, daddy’s tycoons, brands and ROI leaders can hype (white lies) with such impunity, why can’t poor idealists or socialists?

  24. An honest voice is louder than a mob’s… though painful for corporate overlords and big daddies.

  25. I am the landlord thanks to my forefather’s ruthless greed,
    I am the capitalist with power to suppress labor’s every need.
    I am a proud labor thanks to my ancestor’s selfless sacrifice,
    I am a worker with power to organically shake all evil edifice.

    – Sudhir Panda

  26. माया मरी न मन मरा, मर मर गये शरीर।
    आषा तृष्णा ना मरी, कह गये दास कबीर।।

    कबीर दास जी कहते हैं कि शरीर, मन, माया सब नष्ट हो जाता है परन्तु मन में उठने वाली आषा और तृष्णा कभी नष्ट नहीं होती। इसलिए संसार की मोह तृष्णा आदि में नहीं फंसना चाहिए।

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  28. True approach: Systems thinking rationally, acting rationally
    AI Hype approach: Systems mutating like viruses, acting like humans

  29. APPfied services dictate what we watch, surveil us while we watch it, and through it all, make use of digital restrictions to keep viewers helpless and unable to exert meaningful control on how they choose to experience social issues, real trends, useful technology, entertainment, news, television and education.

  30. Elected crooks & co having the ability to secretly hack into people’s computers, take over their social media channels or even full system with connected fancy OS, and spy on them fundamentally undermines our right to privacy. Surveillance is power, and that is a threat to our free and open societies. This month the Australian government has passed a sweeping surveillance bill, worse than any similar legislation in any other five eye country.

    > Data disruption warrant: gives the police the ability to “disrupt data” by modifying, copying, adding, or deleting it.

    > Network activity warrant: allows the police to collect intelligence from devices or networks that are used, or likely to be used, by those subject to the warrant

    > Account takeover warrant: allows the police to take control of an online account (e.g. social media) for the purposes of gathering information for an investigation.

    Govt self-enables itself to be judge, jury and executioner. That’s how justice will be delivered in future in close partnership with cutting-greed big tech monsters cum profiteers!

  31. People consumed trillions of AI social media junk items and main-stream bites as on 2021 – making their lifestyle more mental, insecure, bloat and vulnerable to digital imperialists. Beacon for evolution of real liberty are now safely pushed to gen-next.. the beneficiaries can SWOT this as development!

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  33. The post pandemic cocktail. Emotional people’s political and social beliefs are rooted in unprocessed trauma, they never mind supporting any gang of crooks, opportunists, racists and aspiring fascists out of a deep-seated need to see their perceived enemies suffer: tight-wing reactionaries delight only when their enemies have been gleefully trolled via any messiah namely MuskX, ModiG, MurdochR, MadC, MetaF, MediaP, MaharajaI, MukeshA or anything sounding royal..

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