DRM

Ufff... Hace tiempo que no había escrito en este espacio, pero ahora empiezo con noticias claro-obscuras.

Iron Maiden banda de Metal,(Muy buen metal) hace unos días anuncio que su próximo álbum lo iba a compartir integro en internet :) brincando de alegría seguí revisando la Noticia.

Empecemos con la primera mala en el camino: La liberacion van a tener un formato que es toda una "Preciosidad..." WMA o que gran !"#$%&&/ pero me dije no hay problema para SoundConverter, leyendo lineas mas abajo me encuetro con otra noticia mala va acontener un DRM en esto radica el principal problema, la única restricción anunciada en este caso en particular es la de solo 3 reproducciones de las canciones aun que con estos sistemas no podemos saber si realmente que están haciendo a nuestras espaldas.:(

Es una noticia como lo decía al principio con su lado malo, aunque no todo veamos el lado positivo agrupaciones que están acostumbradas a la vieja forma de hacer negocio con la musica, se están atreviendo a compartir su contenido por la red solo que no se acercaron al mejor aliado para hacerlo.

La mayoria de las personas que nos dedicamos a la Informatica, Sistemas, Redes, etc. tenemos como un gusanillo, que es el de conocer de todo, saber un poco de Flash, moverle a Java, jugar con el TCP/IP, y obviamente conocer todos los S.O posibles (al menos a mi si me pasa).

Una de ellas es la nueva versión de Windows Vista, que a partir del 30 de este mes podremos adquirir.

En este documento escrito por Diego Calleja Palencia deja al descubierto muchas cosas que tendremos que tener en cuenta antes de adquirir Windows Vista.

Me llega el comunicado de prensa sobre el día contra el DRM...

From: Peter Brown To: info-press-AT-gnu.org Subject: [GNU/FSF Press] Oct 3rd - Day Against DRM Date: Tue, 03 Oct 2006 02:19:03 -0400

Day of awareness to the threats posed by DRM

BOSTON, October 3, 2006 - HAZMAT SUITS DESCEND UPON FLAGSHIP APPLE STORES IN NEW YORK AND LONDON: protesters label Apple products defective and hazardous to users, and declare Tuesday October 3rd a "Day Against DRM"

As consumer frustration grows over the Digital Restriction Management (DRM) technology imposed by Apple through its popular iPod and iTunes store, 10,000 technologists are preparing to take direct action to raise public awareness of the larger threats posed by DRM, with more than 200 "actions" planned across the globe on Tuesday October 3rd.

Events on Tuesday are being coordinated by DefectiveByDesign.org a campaign of the Free Software Foundation. Executive Director Peter Brown said, "We aim to raise the level of awareness to the threats posed by DRM technology, and we are calling for political action to curb this gradual abolition of our rights".

DRM technology is a growing problem for all computer users and, by extension, for all of society. DRM is typically used to restrict individuals' use of their own copies of published works. To enforce these restrictions, DRM software, and now hardware, must monitor and control computer users' behavior. Frequently it reports on what it sees.

Consumers might be aware that iPod users are restricted from transferring their music to other non-Apple devices because the music downloaded from iTunes is encrypted - locked with DRM. Apple allows you to write an audio CD, but will leave you with very lousy sound quality if you ever want to take your music to a new portable device in a compressed format. These drawbacks are of course there for a reason: customer lock-in. Apple inconveniences its customers into binding themselves to Apple products.

This type of nuisance is but the foreshadow of greater ones to come. Standing behind the technology companies, the film and music industry (Big Media) have set the agenda. To increase their control, they have been demanding that technology companies impose DRM. The technology companies, having themselves become part of Big Media, have stopped resisting. Sony has become a film and music company, Microsoft is an owner of MSNBC, and Steve Jobs, the CEO of Apple, sits on the board of

Disney. These technology companies do not represent the interests of the technology consumer.

Big Media's agenda is to use DRM to deliver for them what their political lobbying to change copyright law never has: they aim to turn every interaction with a published work into a transaction, abolishing fair use and the commons, and making copyright effectively last forever. By accepting DRM technology users surrender their rights. That they are doing this unknowingly or under duress, is irrelevant to the corporations involved.

As an example, the campaign has drawn attention to Amazon's new movie download service called Unbox, as it outlines what DRM implies for the consumer. The user agreement requires that you allow Unbox DRM software to monitor your hard drive and to report activity to Amazon. These reports would thus include a list of: all the software installed; all the music and video you have; all your computer's interaction with other devices. You will surrender your freedom to such an extent that you will be able to regain control only by removing the software. But if you do remove the software, you will remove all your movies along with it. You are restricted even geographically, and will lose your movies if you ever move out of the USA. You of course have to agree that they can change these terms at any time. Microsoft's newly upgraded Windows Media Player 11 (WMP11) user agreement has a similar set of restrictive terms.

The trend we are seeing is that each time a user is forced to upgrade their software, they downgrade the users' rights. Every new DRM system has enforced a harsher control regime. Apple has added more restrictions to their music service, and their new video service is yet more restrictive. This is not happening just with music and video. DRM is being applied to knowledge and information. Libraries, schools and universities are adding DRM, sometimes under duress, often without understanding the consequences.

Brown describes what this will mean for the future, "No fair use. No purchase and resell. No private copies. No sharing. No backup. No swapping. No mix tapes. No privacy. No commons. No control over our computers. No control over our electronic devices. The conversion of our homes into apparatus to monitor our interaction with published works and web sites." Asked why awareness to these threats was so low Brown responded, "If this type of invasion of privacy were coming from any other source, it would not be tolerated. That it is the media and technology companies leading the way, does not make it benign. Getting Big Media to report on the actions of Big Media is one issue we face".

When users hand over control of their computers they invite deeper surveillance. With personal viewing, listening, reading, browsing records on file, it is likely that this information will sooner or later end up as public record.

Users of free software - not controlled by the large technology companies - have been alerted to DRM because of the threat to their community. They can be locked out, and their computers won't play the movies or music under lock. Products can "tivoize" their code (remove their freedom through DRM), delivering it back with malicious features and blocking removal. Groups in the USA like the RIAA and the MPAA are actively lobbying Congress to pass new laws to mandate DRM and outlaw products and computers that don't enforce DRM. DRM is becoming a major threat to the freedom and privacy of computer users.

In September 2005 a Disney executive named Peter Lee told The Economist, "If consumers even know there's a DRM, what it is, and how it works, we've already failed,". A year later, the campaign hopes to make that prediction come true on October 3rd, and is encouraging participation in awareness activities through their website at www.DefectiveByDesign.org

----30----

About DefectiveByDesign.org

DefectiveByDesign.org is a broad-based, anti-DRM campaign that is targeting Big Media, unhelpful manufacturers and DRM distributors. It aims to make all manufacturers wary about bringing their DRM-enabled products to market. The campaign aims to identify "defective" products for the consumer. Users are being asked to stand up in defense of their existing freedoms and to take action by joining at DefectiveByDesign.org

About the Free Software Foundation

The Free Software Foundation, founded in 1985, is dedicated to promoting computer users' right to use, study, copy, modify, and redistribute computer programs. The FSF promotes the development and use of free (as in freedom) software - particularly the GNU operating system and its GNU/Linux variants - and free documentation for free software. The FSF also helps to spread awareness of the ethical and political issues of freedom in the use of software. Their Web site, located at www.fsf.org , is an important source of information about GNU/Linux. Donations to support their work can be made at http://fsf.org/join They are headquartered in Boston, MA, USA.

Press contact To schedule an interview about the campaign or for more details about the events, please contact Peter Brown at the Free Software Foundation (+1 617-319-5832) or Gregory Heller at CivicActions (+1 646-705-1604) or email pr@fsf.org

afirman que no permitirán hacer una copia de la base de datos de "permisos adquiridos" cuando se compra música con DRM. Es decir, compras una canción desde un equipo con Windows Media Player 11 y las quieres pasar a tu portátil o hacer una copia de los permisos porque reinstalas... pues no. Hay que conectarse a la tienda en cuestión y según den permiso o no (cada tienda podrá aplicar su propia política) pues podrás seguir escuchando las canciones.

Ahí no acaba la cosa, como destacan en Slashdot, el ripeo de compactos también está limitado. Si se utiliza Windows Media Player 11 para ello con la opción "Copy protect music" activada (apuesten a que vendrá así por defecto), al reproducir las canciones seremos llevados a una página de Microsoft donde se nos explicará como "restaurar nuestros permisos un número limitado de veces".

Un paso más hacia el control de los contenidos que se supone que un usuario ha adquirido. Como con Zune y su Drm viral se presupone que el usuario ha obtenido la música de manera ilícita (leyes USA).

Cierto que existen numerosas alternativas a Windows Media Player 11 y que cualquiera con unos mínimos conocimientos elegirá una alternativa tanto para ripear como para reproducir, el problema estriba en que vendrá preinstalado en millones de equipos que se venderán durante el año que viene con Windows Vista y que un gran número de usuarios lo adoptará (presumiblemente sin ningún conocimiento sobre DRM ni del control que ejerce) como reproductor musical.