I'm working on a campaign with the Electronic Frontier Foundation to document and change the way DRM stuff — ebooks, music, videos, games, and devices — are marketed and sold, and I need your help!
We're collecting stories from people in the USA who've bought products from US retailers where the DRM wasn't disclosed, or wasn't adequately disclosed, and where that DRM got you into trouble.
If you've got a story like this and want to go on the record, we want to hear from you — there's a easy form for you to fill in here.
We're preparing a petition to a government agency on fair labelling practices for DRM-restricted devices, products and services. DRM used to be limited to entertainment products, but it's spread with the Internet of Things, and it's turning up in the most unlikely of places. As the Copyright Office heard during last summer's hearings, DRM is now to be found in cars and tractors, in insulin pumps and pacemakers, even in voting machines. What's more, the manufacturers using DRM believe that they have the right to invoke the "anti-circumvention" rules in 1998's Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) to prevent competitors from removing DRM in order to give you more choice about the products you own.
We believe this is an abusive extension of copyright law and that the law should protect businesses and individuals that remove digital locks for lawful purposes — for example, your mechanic should be able to diagnose your car's problems and install aftermarket parts rather than being locked out of the vehicle's computers and stuck with using original parts at inflated prices.
Tell Us Your DRM Horror Stories about Ebooks, Games, Music, Movies and the Internet of Things!
[EFF]
