Thanks to digital rights management: Defective by Design. I've put the ubiquitous button on the sidebar and am touting their sincerely good and noble efforts here. Of course, like all the other bourgeois armchair revolutionaries, I'm not actually getting off my duff and doing anything about it; I simply mumble about "I don't buy DRM'd music even though I use an iPod and iTunes" and make menacing faces when people bring up RIAA and the MPAA. It reminds me of a sticker I saw once on a lampost at college: "ISO: Changing the world from a safe distance," a mock of our campus' chapter of the International Socialist Organization, which was forever making lots of noise about causes and rights of the workers but seemed to be notably absent in their hard-core follow through.
Should I be out there fighting for causes like I did 20 years ago? Absolutely. However, I've come to understand what Billy Joel meant when he talked about finding "that just surviving was a noble fight". So at least I can support the good causes verbally (and financially, once I'm no longer in deep debt) and try to inspire the younger ones to take to action. I just hope that's enough….
Comments (3)
The most important force in fighting DRM is one you might already be participating in: piracy. You can contribute a lot by just showing people how to download a BitTorrent client, pointing them at the Pirate Bay, and saying "Enjoy!"
Posted by Neal | December 28, 2006 2:42 PM
Posted on December 28, 2006 14:42
ARR! BITS AHOY, MATEY!
Posted by Scott Swanson | December 28, 2006 8:07 PM
Posted on December 28, 2006 20:07
I can understand the money thing...I have no debt formally, but I will have to give my dentist $8000 by March, and I have $4700 in my checking account. Considering my necessary expenses, this basically means all my money will be going to my dentist until March. I also have a big cavity which may need a root canal, which will cost something as well.
A few years ago I went on unemployment for the first time ever. I had been volunteering from time to time at a local lefty volunteer bookshop, when I was on unemployment I took a Tuesday shift every day for a few months. Met some very interesting people from all over the world. Don't have the time to make that commitment now of course.
I figured once I started working again I would donate money but things come up, like my dentist and so forth. I sent some money to the Free Software Foundation. I also sent money to Democracy Now, and the Starbucks Workers Union (because I know the people). I need to save up $3300 in the next month though for the dentist, so that type of thing is out of the picture for a little bit.
I only use Itunes for stuff I can't find via, um, other methods.
Posted by Dennis Hidary | January 31, 2007 8:34 PM
Posted on January 31, 2007 20:34