Patent Absurdity, a Documentary Film created by FSF
The documentary film “Patent Absurdity: how software patents broke the system” was released by FSF on April 19th. It’s a film about how software patent affects the software developers and its community. According to the release announcement, the film is based on the series of interviews during the review of in re Bilski given by the US Supreme Court back in 2007. The film is almost 4 hours long. I downloaded the Ogg Theora HD version on its official website patentabsurdity.com and never watched it because of the lacks of free time. Perhaps I will watch it one month later after this semester ends 
The FSF Open Letter to Google
The following is the email I received from FSF about Google’s recently purchased On2 video codec maker. I already talked about Google’s usage of On2′s VP8 codec might come true in the post “The future version of Youtube might not support Firefox” almost one month ago. I strongly support this statement to encourage Google to license its newly acquired video codec as a royalty-free license. If Google freed the VP8 video codec and switched its proprietary Flash-based Youtube site to its new VP8-based site using royalty-free license, more people will aware the importance of open video format as well as open source movement.
Dear supporter,
This week, Google’s attempt to purchase video codec maker On2 was
approved by On2′s shareholders. If Google does the right thing, this
could be wonderful news for free formats.The FSF has just posted an open letter to Google, calling on it to
free On2′s VP8 codec with an irrevocable royalty-free license, and to
promote the newly freed video codec through YouTube.Read why it would be so amazing for free software developers, free
software users, and all users of the web if Google does the right
thing:http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/google-free-on2-vp8-for-youtube/
We feel that this is a very important message for web developers,
video creators, and tech-savvy members of the public to hear. Please
help us spread it around, particularly here:http://www.reddit.com/r/technology/comments/b462q/open_letter_to_google_free_vp8_and_use_it_on/#
And if you have an account on digg:
http://digg.com/tech_news/Open_letter_to_Google_free_On2_VP8_and_use_it_on_YouTube
(It’s important that we let people everywhere know about the
importance of free software and free formats, so please help spread
the word — but please don’t let sharing important news about free
software lead to further use of services that promote and use proprietary
software.)Thanks!
Sincerely,
Holmes Wilson
Free Software Foundation
Message from FSF about Apple’s DRM Restriction
The following email message is from Free Software Foundation (FSF) to stop the DRM restrictions on the new Apple iPad device. The message title is “iPad is iBad for Freedom (Peter Brown)”. I strongly recommend to visit the URL mentioned in the email message and sign the petition.
*With new tablet device, Apple’s Steve Jobs pushes unprecedented extension of DRM to a new class of general purpose computers*
Please sign our petition to Steve Jobs at:
http://www.defectivebydesign.org/ipadSAN FRANCISCO, California, USA — Wednesday, January 27, 2010 — As Steve Jobs and Apple prepared to announce their new tablet device, activists opposed to Digital Restrictions Management (DRM) from the group Defective by Design were on hand to draw the media’s attention to the increasing restrictions that Apple is placing on general purpose computers. The group set up “Apple Restriction Zones” along the approaches to the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco, informing journalists of the rights they would have to give up to Apple before proceeding inside.
(images from the action http://i.imgur.com/nUtZK.jpg, http://i.imgur.com/0wpvY.jpg, http://i.imgur.com/iL2vT.jpg)
DRM is used by Apple to restrict users’ freedom in a variety of ways, including blocking installation of software that comes from anywhere except the official Application Store, and regulating every use of movies downloaded from iTunes. Apple furthermore claims that circumventing these restrictions is a criminal offense, even for purposes that are permitted by copyright law.
Organizing the protest, Free Software Foundation (FSF) operations manager John Sullivan said, “Our Defective by Design campaign has a successful history of targeting Apple over its DRM policies. We organized actions and protests targeting iTunes music DRM outside Apple stores, and under the pressure Steve Jobs dropped DRM on music. We’re here today to send the same message about the other restrictions Apple is imposing on software, ebooks, and movies. If Jobs and Apple are actually committed to creativity, freedom, and individuality, they should prove it by eliminating the restrictions that make creativity and freedom illegal.”
The group is asking citizens to sign a petition calling on Steve Jobs to remove DRM from Apple devices. The petition can be found at:
http://www.defectivebydesign.org/ipad“Attention needs to be paid to the computing infrastructure our society is becoming dependent upon. This past year, we have seen how human rights and democracy protesters can have the technology they use turned against them by the corporations who supply the products and services they rely on. Your computer should be yours to control. By imposing such restrictions on users, Steve Jobs is building a legacy that endangers our freedom for his profits,” said FSF executive director Peter Brown.
Other critics of DRM have asserted that Apple is not responsible, and it is the publishers insisting on the restrictions. However, on the iPhone and its new tablet, Apple does not provide publishers any way to opt out of the restrictions — even free software and free culture authors who want to give legal permission for users to share their works.
“This is a huge step backward in the history of computing,” said FSF’s Holmes Wilson, “If the first personal computers required permission from the manufacturer for each new program or new feature, the history of computing would be as dismally totalitarian as the milieu in Apple’s famous Super Bowl ad.”