Seen as an inconvenience in the United States, digital-rights management (DRM)--the protection software deployed by Apple Computer, Real Networks and others to keep their songs from being played on
certain music players and certain devices--is being regarded by some as an all-out assault on consumer choice overseas. In Paris over the weekend, about 40 advocates from a consumer choice group
called StopDRM handed out leaflets and waved banners claiming that they had committed a number of offenses and therefore deserved to be arrested. Their crimes ran in the following vein: buying songs
from iTunes and converting the files so they could be listened to on a media device not made by Apple Computer.
It took the group's leader, Jér"me Martinez, more than 10 minutes to
explain to bemused Parisian police that he had done something illegal. StopDRM is devoted to protesting the number of subtle restrictions Apple and others are imposing on their products that limit the
use of legally purchased songs and video. They argue that these media companies allow users to download files from file-sharing networks, but will not allow purchased music to be played on the media
player or device of their choice.
Read the whole story at The New York Times »
