Anti-DRM protest planned for Philadelphia on Feb 25th

Students of Swarthmore plan to stand up against the use of Digital Rights Management (DRM) copy protection on audio CDs at the Tower Records store on South Street. The students claim DRM is putting unfair digital locks on CDs that restrict consumers from exercising their fair use rights under U.S. Copyright Law. DRM protected CDs limit the number of backups and how you may "rip the CD", which means DRM crippled in general, cannot be copied to an iPod music player.

The aim according to record companies is to reduce copyright infringement, something the students say simply isn't working. Free Culture co-founder and President Nelson Pavlosky said, "these sneaky DRM schemes endanger users and stop you from doing perfectly legal things like putting your music onto your iPod. It’s ridiculous; consumers don’t even know that they’re buying a broken record." The protest will take place Saturday, February 25th at noon at the Tower Records Store on South Street. It will continue into early afternoon. Free Culture wants to inform consumers of their fair use rights and warn them about the DRM threat.



"We need to get the word out about fair use rights," said co-founder Luke Smith. "No one wants to buy a broken record; if you’re not allowed to put it on your iPod, what exactly are you paying for? We want record companies to replace crippled CDs and pay for the damage they cause to their customers machines. We also want to drive the message home; you can’t do this anymore, because we’re watching you."

Source:
Free Culture Swarthmore

Written by: James Delahunty @ 22 Feb 2006 12:42
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  • 46 comments

  • Cman

    Without big money backing, no one is going to give a crap about this or any other protest against the Record Companies. Those companies OWN both houses of the US Congress and with their annual campaign donations, that won't change anytime soon.

    Money talks, Civil rights walks. Bought and paid for curtesy of your "elected representives"..

    22.2.2006 14:41 #1

  • GrayArea

    "We need to get the word out about fair use rights..."

    The word from the industry is, "The DMCA took your poopy head fair use rights away. We Win. Nanny Nanny Boo Boo!"

    This is the United States of America damn it! We have the best laws money can buy!

    22.2.2006 14:45 #2

  • Jasper44

    hopefully they don't protest tooooo long because they are just wasting their time

    22.2.2006 15:21 #3

  • ripdox

    ...

    22.2.2006 16:54 #4

  • punx777

    if i didn't live so damn far away i would go out and protest myself! they are removing our freedoms here!

    22.2.2006 18:35 #5

  • Escobar22

    LOOOOOOOOOOL @ SWARTHMORE

    I can't be the only one who finds that funny

    22.2.2006 19:22 #6

  • XxRUINSxX

    Hmm makes you wonder how good our government is when drug dealers can get off easier, than some kid selling bootleg CD's, and DVD's...

    22.2.2006 20:40 #7

  • oofRome

    im not sure what will come of this but I hope it sparks more schools and stuff to protest. It's a good cause, in my opinion, and I would welcome a proactive response from anyone.

    22.2.2006 20:41 #8

  • dubire

    i do my prostest simply i dont trust the cds any more and dont buy them over fear of crippling my laptop with DRM and the music people get nothing but its there own fault

    22.2.2006 23:25 #9

  • Auslander

    a protest is a protest...at least someone's trying to do something. i'd join them, if i had gas money.

    23.2.2006 13:16 #10

  • garmoon

    Protest easily by not buying the crap they are selling. If everyone stopped buying the DRM cds then they would eventually remove the DRM protections. They would also think twice if everyone whose pc was damage would actually file a law suit. Imagine the record companies having to have counsel in every little hick town across the country to defend each case. Just a pipe dream but only if.

    23.2.2006 16:12 #11

  • ChiefBrdy

    Well, it's accomplishing something. I'm 1000 miles away and now I know about it.

    24.2.2006 02:31 #12

  • mrbillpro

    ChiefBrdy, that's the spirit, sorta like Prayer you don't have to be there when folks are Praying for you for it to work, Prayer has no boundaries and neither does information like this, carry on Soldier.

    24.2.2006 03:06 #13

  • ZippyDSM

    well its might be a cry in the forest but at least soem well know it happened...

    24.2.2006 04:15 #14

  • aduckis

    Why are they protesting a record store? They have nothing to do with copy protection on audio CDs. Are they having the protest here to bring attention to this or are they protesting Tower Records? I know most people (and the media will say) that they are protesting Tower Records. Just wondering.

    24.2.2006 05:03 #15

  • ZippyDSM

    aduckis
    mabye its a non corp store and trying to boost some non C-P or non corp lable sales?

    24.2.2006 05:05 #16

  • Lundylove

    @ garmoon

    The only problem with not buying the DRM cds, is that the record companies will still bleme pyracy for low cd sells and then what... They'll think they need tougher DRM software on CDs

    24.2.2006 11:11 #17

  • garmoon

    @Lundylove You could be right but I think the artists would step in before, to keep their income flowing, to demand that the DRMs be removed. They gotta eat too. Especially if they see their competition sell tons of cds without DRMs.

    24.2.2006 11:21 #18

  • dstoff

    Somebody should organize a 30 day boycott against buying CD's,........THAT will make someone listen.

    24.2.2006 16:41 #19

  • badaboy

    QUESTION To "GREY AREA"
    ,,,,,,,you say that this country of yours has the best "LAWS MONEY CAN BUY"...WHY SHOULD YOU HAVE TO "BUY AND PAY",,,,,,,I TOUGHT JUSTICE WAS SOPPOSED TO BE DISTRIBUTED FREELEY TO EVERY INHABITANT OF THE COUNTRY,,,and without discrimination,,,,would you besupposing that "some" poor and ordinary peoples cannot get fair and free justice ....but i think that YOU have a point ..right
    on badaboy

    24.2.2006 21:51 #20

  • badaboy

    QUESTION To "GREY AREA"
    ,,,,,,,you say that this country of yours has the best "LAWS MONEY CAN BUY"...WHY SHOULD YOU HAVE TO "BUY AND PAY",,,,,,,I TOUGHT JUSTICE WAS SOPPOSED TO BE DISTRIBUTED FREELEY TO EVERY INHABITANT OF THE COUNTRY,,,and without discrimination,,,,would you besupposing that "some" poor and ordinary peoples cannot get fair and free justice ....but i think that YOU have a point ..right
    on badaboy

    24.2.2006 21:53 #21

  • Mik3h

    Hmm, it's exactly like DVDs. - Sure, we'll let you backup your DVDs, but we'll make sure you got nothing to do it with.

    And I agree, without big backing, they will get little attention. Yet another reason not to get an iPod eh..

    -Mike

    25.2.2006 01:21 #22

  • ChiefBrdy

    Can you imagine the financial damage a country wide boycott would produce. While they're at it. A 1 month boycott of Exxon/Mobile would be nice too. If everyone got gas anywhere but E/M. Watch how fast prices would come down. I realize cars are just a fraction of the equation. But it's big enough. 8 billion profit in one quarter is obscene. The consumer is a sleeping giant. Unfortunately, here in America, a great deal of people have become too fat and complacent.

    "Somebody should organize a 30 day boycott against buying CD's,........THAT will make someone listen."

    25.2.2006 03:21 #23

  • ChiefBrdy

    On many levels the DRM, RIAA, and MPAA thing could be causing more people to download p2p, torrent or whatever. First, all the headlines are informing 'average joe' that free downloading is an option. Something they may have never been aware of before. Second. The one's who do buy CD's and DVD's are so pissed by all of suits and protections and threats, that they turn to free downloading. Then there's the ones who would do it even if CD's were free.

    OTOH. Apple just hit the billion mark for song sales. 2 million sold every 24 hours.

    Who knows what the outcome will be.

    25.2.2006 03:33 #24

  • oracle

    Do not buy!
    One way or the other all theese tunes are last for a week only!

    25.2.2006 04:42 #25

  • Cman

    Well, today is the 25th so, lets see if this gets mentioned in any mainstream media outlet. Any bets its 50 people walking in a circle shouting into the cool winter's air about a subject most passersby could care less about?

    There was a time in the country when people gave a darn about their own rights. Now they're more than willing to sacrifice them as long as it doesn't affect their paychecks.

    25.2.2006 05:21 #26

  • dg089

    I don't understand people sometimes. There word isn't going to do nothing.





    25.2.2006 19:14 #27

  • chinpark9

    Seems to me the students are wasting their time. I would have thought that a quiet organised boycott of those shops would bring results faster than all this pointless noise.

    26.2.2006 00:13 #28

  • chinpark9

    Someone should take a cue from Nader. When he started fighting the car moguls for what he thought was right, they laughed him out. Took a while, though.....

    26.2.2006 00:36 #29

  • hot_ice

    These students are wasting their time. Unless they file various lawsuits, the fuss of a protest will die down very quickly.

    26.2.2006 12:22 #30

  • snreu

    ChiefBrdy, and did you know that Exxon hasn't paid one cent of the 4 Billion or so it is supposed to toward Exxon Valdez clean up and lost income to locals and that was what, 10 years ago?

    26.2.2006 15:13 #31

  • nchantim

    I agree with ChiefBrdy : much of the "free downloading" by the public was due to the MPAA and especially the evil greedy RIAA who informed the general public about it. If P2P networks had remained in the arcana of hackers and enthusiasts, it might not be such a problem. I laughed at the movie trailer ads telling not to download DVDs - "wow, look, I can download a whole DVD in about 10 seconds! Let's try it!" This ad makes it seem even easier than it actually is, and only gets people interested in trying it! ("looks so easy and quick in that ad...")
    The second point is, who is more likely to download free material - the college student or the grandmother? and what happens 10 years from now - crackers will keep cracking DRM, and these college kids will be the ones not wanting to buy CDs.
    We need MORE protests, methinks.

    26.2.2006 15:34 #32

  • wonderboy

    I think we should boycott buying CD's , but not all CD's just the ones with DRM protection. I have friends that are artists and are on Independant labels with no DRM, Boycott the big record labels buy independant......!

    27.2.2006 00:52 #33

  • Rikoshay

    This is a good thing. Even if it was noticed or not, it still is getting the point across. Even the smallest groups can eventually accomplish a lot if they try.

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    28.2.2006 07:18 #34

  • MrMexican

    You should at least give credit for at least standing up and try to make a change. DRM is a reason why we can't put music into our mp3 players. With all this protection in a cd it all reminds me of the time when I couldn't break the protection of the cd. Now with 1 program I am able to break all the protection out of my cds that I actually have "wink wink" and all the protection that my dvd's have. And what really pisses me off is that the program I use is a program that stores sell. In the box it came with it had a big words that said

    "Burn All Your Media With One Program No Mather What Protection It Had." So I don't really care about what protection DRM puts on because this program is always updated so any future protection will be cracked in a day or two.

    1.3.2006 15:11 #35

  • ZippyDSM

    MrMexican
    I wonder how long they will keep ignoreing thos programs 0-o

    1.3.2006 15:16 #36

  • MrMexican

    See the thing is that they don't want to let you know that they let you burn the movies,cd's, and games with no problem. But when they lost that dollar to a soda machine and can't get it back they blame piracy and hunt down any house untill they find one with a lot of movies,cd's and games so they sue you.

    I got a question to anyone that has ever had this problem.

    Who has ever bought soda from the soda machine and took your dollar without giving your soda.

    I had this problem today and what did I do, well I just kicked the machine untill it got my dollar and what happens I get 2 sodas. Good for me right, but what about the other soda that I got am I gonna get sued for pyracy. Well we would just have to wait and see.

    1.3.2006 15:32 #37

  • hot_ice

    Boycotts are excellent, they keep the monopolies in check. We should shout out and say:" Listen, we aren't happy with the prices of your products, we demand better prices or we just won't buy!"

    Followed by a Bee, Yatch, etches; mold the three together and it forms a colorful word. Lol

    1.3.2006 21:27 #38

  • ZippyDSM

    hot_ice
    I boyycott by buying used they never see a dime of it.

    I boyycot Half assed domestic anime by just skiping dubs sicne they only release some in raped dub format,download or ebay *L* you'd be suprised at soem of the Digimon bootlegs pll try and make some arent so bad sicne thier right off the TV,hell the only way to find newer digimon in any English langage on DVD is from the UK 0-o and thats the legit version ><

    2.3.2006 01:28 #39

  • ZippyDSM

    well this is annoying why cant I edit posts in some news threads and not others? 0-o
    anyway I did some looking...FOX UK might put more content on the digimon rleases(OMG sub's!!) but it looks like they havent done alot of the series's and thier just finish work on movie 4 >>

    2.3.2006 01:35 #40

  • snreu

    Just another reminder that even though we live in the greatest country in the world, the more money you have, the more freedoms you enjoy.

    2.3.2006 03:34 #41

  • ZippyDSM

    snreu
    More like the more money you have the more you can get the goverment and the courts to look away as you arse rape the public 0-o

    2.3.2006 03:36 #42

  • snreu

    ZIppyDSM, don't get me started on that one. I don't know how it could be fixed, but it is amazing,(or pathetic), that one's guilt or innocence in this country rides on the prosecuter having a good day or not. What happened to "Did he do it or not"?

    2.3.2006 03:56 #43

  • ZippyDSM

    snreu
    *L*

    2.3.2006 05:24 #44

  • snreu

    ZIppyDSM,

    Sorry, but I'm not sure what the *L* means. (It does say I'm a newbie.)
    My lawyer told me years ago at our first meeting, "50% of all lawyers graduated in the bottom half of their class." I guess that's true about most everybody, but it sure strikes home when you start looking into justice the American way.

    "I'd rather hunt with Dick Cheney than ride with Ted Kennedy!"

    2.3.2006 06:38 #45

  • hot_ice

    Personally, I am an anime fan and I want to get a season of Inuyasha. The price was around 110 $ without tax!

    Thats insane. Like come on, why is anime that damn expensive.

    If they would make their prices more reasonable I would actually buy the damned season instead of waiting for the episodes to surface on the television.

    125$ for an anime season, thats unreasonable.

    2.3.2006 11:08 #46

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