Today, Apple launched a computer that will never belong to its owner.
Apple will use Digital Restrictions Management (DRM) to gain total veto
power over the applications you use and the media you can view.
We've launched a petition calling out Apple's new product for what it
is:
a frightening step backward for computing and for media distribution.
Can
you read it, sign it, and share with friends?
Defective by Design's John Sullivan is on the ground at the Apple event
with a group of protesters, letting the public and journalists know
about
the "Restriction Zone" Apple is constructing around their products.
We'll
be posting images from the event throughout the day, so sign the
petition
and please check back frequently and help us circulate these images.
This summer we saw the dangers of DRM on ebook readers, when Amazon
deleted hundreds of copies of George Orwell's 1984 from readers'
computers
while they slept. Applying this control to a general purpose computer
marketed especially for media distribution is a huge step backward for
computing, and a blow to the media revolution that happened when the web
let bloggers reach millions without asking for permission.
DRM and forced updates will give Apple and their corporate partners the
power to disable features, restrict competition, censor news, and even
delete books, videos, or news stories from users' computers while they
sleep-- using the device's "always on" network connection.
Apple can say they will not abuse this power, but their record of App
Store rejections gives us no reason to trust them. The Apple Tablet's
unprecedented use of DRM to control all capabilities of a general
purpose
computer is a dangerous step backward for computing and for media
distribution; we demand that Apple remove DRM from the device.