Thousands Sign iPad Anti-DRM Petition

[Paul Daniel Ash]

Supporters of free software picketed the iPad launch last month, designating the Yerba Buena Center For Arts as an "Apple Restriction Zone." The Free Software Foundation was protesting Apple's ongoing efforts to control what can run on its devices through restrictive digital rights management (DRM) and a closed operating system. The online petition set up at the event has swelled to over eight thousand signatures, and the FSF sent off the first five thousand as a postcard to Steve Jobs.

The Defective by Design campaign, organized by the FSF, was successful in pressuring Apple to remove all DRM restrictions from music on iTunes. John Sullivan from the FSF said at the iPad launch that his group wanted "to send the same message about the other restrictions Apple is imposing on software, e-books, and movies." Sullivan cast aspersions on Apple's claims that the company supports creative expression. "If Jobs and Apple are actually committed to creativity, freedom, and individuality," he said, "they should prove it by eliminating the restrictions that make creativity and freedom illegal," he said. According to FSF director Peter Brown, Apple's shift from the open model of current computers to the closed model of the iPhone OS creates a dangerous precedent for the future of computing. "Your computer should be yours to control," he said. "By imposing such restrictions on users, Steve Jobs is building a legacy that endangers our freedom for his profits."

The FSF pointed out two main categories in which the iPhone/iPod/iPad model was overly restrictive:

• All media in the iTunes store (with the one exception of music) is wrapped in Apple’s DRM. That means films, TV shows, movies and audiobooks (NB: books are in an open format ePub) are locked to Apple’s platform, taking away your right to share.
• All applications must be signed by Apple if they are to run, an unprecedented level of control for a general purpose computer. On top of this, Apple can push updates to the device over its wireless connection, letting them add or remove capabilities at any time.

The petition, which describes the iPad as "a computer that will never belong to its owner," is up to 8,800 signatures as of this writing. The text is available at the DefectivebyDesign website.

image via Free Software Foundation

[RonHC]

watch out for them iVirus

OT: The iPad is a fail of itself, Get a Mac.....IMO

[tudtran]

People need to get a ******* life.

[Melech518]

The petition, which describes the iPad as "a computer that will never belong to its owner," is up to 8,800 signatures as of this writing.

I loled. The petition for a "Don't Like" Button on Facebook has over 2,076,090 signatures and all these people can get are 8,800?

I think more than 8,800 people made purchases from the Apple store already today

[sandstorm77]

I so sick of people complaining about a tethered jailbreak. Seriously! My iPhone requires a tethered jailbreak. Do you know how many times i had to reboot my phone Since Jan when i bought it. NONE.

[Ticko]

wish i could have signed the petition. I am a completely open source computer user i have linux installed on all my machines including my MBP wich has 3 os's running. If we pay for hardware the right to use that hardware as we please is ours. I can understand apple wanting to protect the ebooks and movies that it has rights to but if people have an alternative source for apps, books, movies, music LET THEM USE IT. And not all alternative sources are illegal sources look at cydia store or rock store for example they are perfectly legal enterprises which offer free and paid for apps. If the rights to make "4th" party apps existed there would be less need to "crack and pirate" things that should be made open to the person who purchases the product. There would be a multitude of other LEGAL sources offering the same products promoting competition instead of charging whatever apple deems appropriate. its not apples computer to give permission to sign whether or not to allow it on the machine itself. It is the property of the person who purchased it and they are allowed to put whatever LEGAL software/music/movie they want on there and the ipad/iphone should be no different. Once the iphone was jailbroken 4th party apps were developed and what a great day that was. Look where it has led us, to multitasking and features apple wants but never thought of. Opening up the ipad/iphone is not at all risky to the company but would probably sell more units. Apple likes to have all their stuff wrapped nice and cozy in their DRM so that they can have a huge legal monopoly over what people use electronics for the most these days, MEDIA.

I so sick of people complaining about a tethered jailbreak. Seriously! My iPhone requires a tethered jailbreak. Do you know how many times i had to reboot my phone Since Jan when i bought it. NONE.

random?

[CaptainChaos]

Apple is heading in the right direction. They have already removed their DRM from their music sales. My only gripe is that I had to repay to download the DRM free versions.

[mattylee]

Seriously, if you don't like it, DON'T BUY IT.

There's plenty of other phones out there for people who want their 'freedom'.

[Ticko]

Seriously, if you don't like it, DON'T BUY IT.

There's plenty of other phones out there for people who want their 'freedom'.

that really sounds sooo ignorant especially since you are posting on a JAILBREAKING forum. honestly if you just buy products just to buy the cool new fad instead of buying a product that is some USE to you and ease of use than just send all your money down to me because there are a lot of products i like that don't fit all my needs hence the need to buy a coffee maker and dish washer they perform 2 different functions and until the day they make a coffee making dishwasher will i buy that. and people buy the product they choose to be most beneficial to them and just because the iphone is really cool and has a lot of benefits it is missing A LOT of important stuff that most phones put for common place these days such as the ability to change the background on the home screen... I MEAN COME ON man i know your background is different so obviously that is something that u didnt like about the phone so why did u buy it?

[goodgod2]

I so sick of people complaining about a tethered jailbreak. Seriously! My iPhone requires a tethered jailbreak. Do you know how many times i had to reboot my phone Since Jan when i bought it. NONE.

what the hell is this about lol

[adp]

I so sick of people complaining about a tethered jailbreak. Seriously! My iPhone requires a tethered jailbreak. Do you know how many times i had to reboot my phone Since Jan when i bought it. NONE.

[KINESIS]

i completely agree with these people. Drm is an absolute joke and does nothing but motivate pirates to crack it. Look at spore and pretty much all games that use securom drm for "anti-piracy" measures. They're usually all cracked and released to the pirate community weeks before public release, and in most cases, the actual consumer was the one having all the problems trying to go through bs "activations" and whatnot. All the while the pirates had been happily playing the games for weeks with no issue whatsoever. These restrictions hurt no one but the average paying consumer. Pirates simply make a game out of cracking it.

I've said it before and will say it many times in the future. The only reason i ever got an iphone was because it could be jailbroken. If that is ever gone, or if all future iphones require a tethered jailbreak, i'm off to android in a heartbeat where you don't have steve "jesus" jobs trying to control everything you do with something you own.

agree!!!!!

[Happy Noodle Boy]

You can already use Home Sharing to share all your TV/Movies/Apps between 5 computers under your account. What's the issue here, again? Also, you can have an unlimited number of devices tied to your account and you can have your apps/movies on every single one of those. A family under one iTunes account can potentially have dozens of iPods/iPhones and only pay once for everything (except music)

Also, while the kill-switch has been present since Day 1, I don't think they've ever used it. Ever. It's more of a "Should this really bad app that could potentially harm the phone gets through, we can deal with it"

DRM itself isn't an issue. Bad DRM is a problem that harms the consumer. Take Steam for example, a digital distribution platform for PC games. All your games are tied to your account and you can play them on any PC with Steam installed on it.

Even things like Spore's dreaded activation limit got blown out of proportion and those DRM are there for a reason. You know what happens when a game is released without DRM? It gets pirated to hell and back and no one buys it. World of Goo being the most recent obvious example. An indie game made by 2 people and what do they get in return for all their work? a 90% piracy rate.

Demi-God, another recent multiplayer title was released without DRM and it got pirated so bad before release that their MP lobby servers died when they weren't ready... since the game wasn't out yet. Then the games is released and they're still recovering from the pirates and actual costumers have a bad MP experience, tarnishing the release and kinda killing the game before it got a chance to shine.

EDIT: People that pirate have no shame, all you're doing is hurting the developer and consumer at the same time. And it's even more appalling on the App Store where a frigging Big Mac is more expensive than most apps.

[steve-z17]

that really sounds sooo ignorant especially since you are posting on a JAILBREAKING forum. honestly if you just buy products just to buy the cool new fad instead of buying a product that is some USE to you and ease of use than just send all your money down to me because there are a lot of products i like that don't fit all my needs hence the need to buy a coffee maker and dish washer they perform 2 different functions and until the day they make a coffee making dishwasher will i buy that. and people buy the product they choose to be most beneficial to them and just because the iphone is really cool and has a lot of benefits it is missing A LOT of important stuff that most phones put for common place these days such as the ability to change the background on the home screen... I MEAN COME ON man i know your background is different so obviously that is something that u didnt like about the phone so why did u buy it?

Its not ignorant to say if you don't like it then don't buy it, especially when its not a necessity like a "coffee maker or dishwasher" is to some or someones not forcing you to buy it. If one of your friends bought a new car and kept complaining to you all the time about how much he hates it I think after while you'd get sick of it and be wondering, "well if you hate it so much then why do you have it or why did you get it in the first place?" especially when there are plenty of other options out there that can get the job done. No one wants to hear people complain over and over about how much they hate their phone, if you don't like the iPhone or Apple then go get a phone running Android or something else.

[Melech518]

People that pirate have no shame, all you're doing is hurting the developer and consumer at the same time. And it's even more appalling on the App Store where a frigging Big Mac is more expensive than most apps.

I couldn't agree more!

[steve-z17]

I loled. The petition for a "Don't Like" Button on Facebook has over 2,076,090 signatures and all these people can get are 8,800?

I think more than 8,800 people made purchases from the Apple store already today

Haha I thought that was pretty funny as well!

[kraziebone]

It's not just about apple products guys. This group is worried that since these products have become so popular, they will become the industry standard for platforms all over the board and that is what is dangerous. Where do I sign?Seriously though, where do I sign?

[kraziebone]

I really don't think this is in support of pirates, "free" software isn't free of cost, it's free of the restrictive choke hold of the creater.

[szr]

I completely agree with these people. DRM is an absolute joke and does nothing but motivate pirates to crack it. Look at Spore and pretty much all games that use SecuROM DRM for "anti-piracy" measures. They're usually all cracked and released to the pirate community weeks before public release, and in most cases, the actual CONSUMER was the one having all the problems trying to go through BS "activations" and whatnot. All the while the pirates had been happily playing the games for weeks with no issue whatsoever. These restrictions hurt no one but the average paying consumer. Pirates simply make a game out of cracking it.

100% right. Whether it's games (SecuROM, SafeDisc, etc), "product activation", 5 computer auth limit, or even HDCP/PVP/PAP, it's the people who go through proper channels and pay for things that are that are made to jump throuhg the hoops. It's no different then most "gun control" laws, which again, only makes things more difficult for the legit paying customer.

I don't know about anyone else, but if I'm a paying customer, I don't want to be treated like I'm being pre-judged as a criminal or with potential criminal intent.

I've said it before and will say it many times in the future. The only reason I ever got an iPhone was because it could be jailbroken.

Amen, brotha'; I got an iPhone for various reasons, but it would not be the device I enjoy if it couldn't be opened up.

[ukoda]

When I brought my iPhone there was no jail break and no way to use it here without the jail break and unlock. I was gambling on that happening since there was no Android back then so no viable alternative smart phone. I won't buy an iPad until I can run any software I wish. The key difference is I must have a phone but a tablet is a discretionary buy and therefore I won't lay down cash for a crippled product. I can wait as long as it takes, or until there is a Linux based tablet that is done right. It's Apple's choice if they want my money.