BOSTON, Massachusetts, USA -- Tuesday, May 3rd, 2016 -- Today community groups, activist organizations, and businesses are taking part in the International Day Against DRM, celebrating ten years since the first global day of action in 2006. The groups are united in envisioning a world without Digital Restrictions Management (DRM), technology that polices what people can do with digital media by spying on them and compromising their computer security. As the largest anti-DRM event in the world, the International Day Against DRM is intended as a counterpoint to the pro-DRM message broadcast by powerful media and software companies. The Day is coordinated by Defective by Design, a campaign of the Free Software Foundation.

At the time of publication, community members and activists have organized eleven events in Mexico, Bangladesh, Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy, and the US. Fifteen organizations are participating, including the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Creative Commons, the Document Foundation (home of LibreOffice), and the Free Software Foundation sister organizations in India and Europe. Bookstores and publishers, including O'Reilly Media, are offering sales on DRM-free media

Today Defective by Design released a timeline recounting the first ten years of the International Day Against DRM. Community members are encouraged to continue the timeline by envisioning future victories against DRM on social media.

Zak Rogoff, campaigns manager for the Free Software Foundation said, "Giving its owners power over our cars, medical devices, phones, computers, and more, DRM opens a deep crack in our digital rights and freedoms. That crack will only get wider and more dangerous as our societies continue to interweave with technology. Governments and corporations steer the massive technosocial system that perpetuates DRM and makes it profitable, often steering it away from the best interests of the technology's actual users. Committed to a more ethical technological future, our movement pushes back. Today, looking back on ten years since the first International Day Against DRM, we have a lot of progress to celebrate, and we still have a lot of work to do."

Individuals can participate with a variety of online and in-person actions on dayagainstdrm.org, from DRM-free media purchases to gatherings. To be part of Defective by Design's year-round anti-DRM campaigns, supporters can join the low-volume action alerts email list, the DRM Elimination Crew discussion list and the #dbd IRC channel on Freenode. Media stores, activist organizations and other groups interested in participating in the International Day Against DRM in 2017 should join the email discussion list to get reminders and support when the event is near.

About Defective By Design

Defective by Design is the Free Software Foundation's campaign against Digital Restrictions Management (DRM). DRM is the practice of imposing technological restrictions that control what users can do with digital media, creating a good that is defective by design. DRM requires the use of proprietary software and is a major threat to computer user freedom. It often spies on users as well. The campaign, based at defectivebydesign.org, organizes anti-DRM activists for in-person and online actions, and challenges powerful media and technology interests promoting DRM. Supporters can donate to the campaign at https://www.defectivebydesign.org/donate.

About the Free Software Foundation

The Free Software Foundation, founded in 1985, is dedicated to promoting computer users' right to use, study, copy, modify, and redistribute computer programs. The FSF promotes the development and use of free (as in freedom) software -- particularly the GNU operating system and its GNU/Linux variants -- and free documentation for free software. The FSF also helps to spread awareness of the ethical and political issues of freedom in the use of software, and its Web sites, located at fsf.org and gnu.org, are an important source of information about GNU/Linux. Donations to support the FSF's work can be made at https://donate.fsf.org. Its headquarters are in Boston, MA, USA.

Media Contact

Zak Rogoff
Campaigns Manager
Free Software Foundation
+1-617-542-5942 x31
campaigns@fsf.org