[Noisebridge-discuss] Defective by Design protest at Yerba Buena Center

[Jacob Appelbaum]

Hi *,

I'm sad that I can't make it to this event. Perhaps there are some other
Noisebrige people that are interested? John contacted me and I wanted to
pass this along in hopes of getting a few people out to show support for
the FSF cause.

-------- Original Message --------
From: John Sullivan <johns at fsf.org>

Please join Defective By Design and the FSF at Apple's launch event
Wednesday morning in San Francisco at the Yerba Buena Center for the
Arts Theater, to protest Apple's support for DRM -- especially locking
general purpose computers to exclusive App Stores, thereby blocking the
installation and use of free software.

We'll meet at 8:30am (not our fault -- Apple is starting at 10am and
people will be arriving by 9:00am). We'll have fun with a little theater
of our own and help raise awareness in the media frenzy about the
downsides of Apple's restrictions.

Please RSVP to info at defectivebydesign.org and stay tuned to
http://identi.ca/dbd for updates.

Background:

This coming Wednesday, January 27th, Apple has invited members of the
media to San Francisco's Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Theater to
"Come see our latest creation."

There has been much speculation about what Apple will be announcing,
with most of it revolving around a possible tablet PC -- basically an
oversized iPhone. But no matter the form factor, it's all but certain
given the direction Apple has been going that any new product will be
DRM-infected and restricted by proprietary software.

The company who once announced to the world that they opposed DRM on
music has been pushing DRM in every other area of their business.
Apple's iPhone goes out of its way to apply DRM on every piece of
software on the device, saying it is illegal for users to install
software that comes from anywhere other than the official Application
Store.

Can you imagine a world where this same restriction is applied to your
laptop or tablet PC? That could very well be Apple's announcement on
Wednesday -- their latest restriction.

As in the past, they didn't invite us to the event, but we thought we
would go anyway, and bring some friends. We'll be there to warn the
public and the media outside the event about Apple's support for DRM and
proprietary software.

Come help create the counter story in the media -- take photos, talk to
the press, and have fun with a little bit of theater to show that Apple
is not the force for creative expression they claim to be.

We got through to Steve Jobs before on music DRM, and convinced iTunes
to drop it. We know we can have success here. But we need to repeat that
effort and show that DRM on Apple computers means that people who are
actually interested in creativity and freedom will go elsewhere.

Press coverage of Apple events usually falls all over itself to praise
the style and sleekness of their devices. It's vital that we be there to
unmask the new product for what it undoubtedly will be -- another
seamless case and pretty screen hiding a new set of restrictions and
threats to the public's digital freedom.

We'll post the precise time and meeting location for our group here next
week -- since Apple's event starts at 10am, attendees will be showing up
at 9am, and we will want to be ready and outside the Theater by then to
hand out flyers and talk to people.

I'll be there representing the FSF and coordinating the action. Please
join us, and bring friends. Let us know you're coming at
info at defectivebydesign.org.

We'll meet at 8:30am outside the Theater. Stay tuned to
http://identi.ca/dbd for further updates.


EOF


Best,
Jake

-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: signature.asc
Type: application/pgp-signature
Size: 155 bytes
Desc: OpenPGP digital signature
URL: <http://www.noisebridge.net/pipermail/noisebridge-discuss/attachments/20100125/e10fe55c/attachment-0002.sig>