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How damaging is DRM?

Posted on April 4, 2012 by J.B. Nicholson-Owens

Máirín Duffy recently won a Nook Tablet device in a contest. Her difficulty working within the restrictions of modern-day e-books are telling and interesting reading. Do what the ads for reading devices never tell you to do: Consider what freedoms … Continue reading →

Posted in Digital Citizen, Free Software, Politicos

Louis C.K. turns a quick profit treating his customers well

Posted on December 15, 2011 by J.B. Nicholson-Owens

Some years ago I attended a talk at “Ebertfest”, movie reviewer Roger Ebert’s annual movie festival held in Urbana, Illinois. The talk was held in the Illini Union’s Pine Lounge by the now late MPAA chief Jack Valenti. Valenti used … Continue reading →

Posted in Digital Citizen, Politicos

Another reason why all your software must be free software: Carrier IQ

Posted on December 2, 2011 by J.B. Nicholson-Owens

Freedom is participation in power.Marcus Tullius Cicero Wikipedia’s summary of Carrier IQ rootkit events to date: In November 2011, researcher Trevor Eckhart claimed that Carrier IQ was logging information such as location without notifying users or allowing them to opt … Continue reading →

Posted in Free Software, Politicos

“Lending” e-books is a DRM scam: More control for publishers means less freedom for readers

Posted on November 3, 2011 by J.B. Nicholson-Owens

The Wall Street Journal reports that Amazon.com is starting a digital book lending service; readers will be able to download a copy of a book and keep it on their reading device for as long as they want before “returning” … Continue reading →

Posted in Free Software, Politicos

Free software still creating more pressure to release more free software

Posted on October 29, 2011 by J.B. Nicholson-Owens

In or around October 26, 2011, Apple released source code to their software (called “ALAC”) for compressing and decompressing audio without any loss of audio quality. Apple chose the Apache License version 2.0 for this code which includes a patent … Continue reading →

Posted in Free Software, Technical

Richard Stallman on Steve Jobs’ death: respectful, well-written, concise

Posted on October 10, 2011 by J.B. Nicholson-Owens

Background On October 6, 2011, one day after Steve Jobs died, Richard Stallman (rms) posted his reaction to Jobs’ death: Steve Jobs, the pioneer of the computer as a jail made cool, designed to sever fools from their freedom, has … Continue reading →

Posted in Free Software, Politicos

The FSF does hard work and you can help with more suggestions!

Posted on October 10, 2011 by J.B. Nicholson-Owens

Juan Rodriguez posted his dissatisfaction with the Free Software Foundation’s tactics in recent free software campaigns. This is a response to that post, but I thought it a good opportunity to raise awareness of various FSF posts and positions for … Continue reading →

Posted in Free Software, Politicos

Wal-Mart closes their DRM-riddled music store: paying for temporary music?

Posted on August 11, 2011 by J.B. Nicholson-Owens

Ars Technica reports that on August 28, 2011 Wal-Mart will close its online music store where Wal-Mart sold many DRM-encumbered music tracks. DRM is properly defined as “Digital Restrictions Management” because of its effect on the user, as you’ll see. … Continue reading →

Posted in Free Software

Civil liberties require software freedom

Posted on June 20, 2011 by J.B. Nicholson-Owens

FreePress.net, a media reform organization, occasionally sends out emails and hosts feedback campaigns where they ask people to contact someone in an organization which is doing something wrong. In many situations their publicity efforts are right-minded and centered on drawing … Continue reading →

Posted in Free Software, Technical

Magnatune partners with library, patrons win sharable music

Posted on May 29, 2011 by J.B. Nicholson-Owens

Magnatune, a music label where you can download and share all of the tracks in their entire catalog, has struck a deal with the Library system of Ann Arbor, Michigan so that library system’s 107,801 registered cardholding patrons can login … Continue reading →

Posted in Digital Citizen, Politicos

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