Solidarity in action with #LeaveNoOneBehind means: We support people on the move and initiatives who do the same.
We try to react quickly in crisis situations and provide a platform for active initiatives and organizations at the EU’s external borders and beyond.
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LeaveNoOneBehind
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Changing Car Culture Can Benefit Our Health and Our Planet
We need to rethink the American love affair with the automobile and redesign cities to reduce car pollution
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Why Writing by Hand Is Better for Memory and Learning
Engaging the fine motor system to produce letters by hand has positive effects on learning and memory
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Scientists Are Putting ChatGPT Brains Inside Robot Bodies. What Could Possibly Go Wrong?
The effort to give robots AI brains is revealing big practical challenges—and bigger ethical concerns
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The Sophisticated Threads behind a Hat That Senses Traffic Lights
A new technique to make electronic fibers could help solve wearable technology’s flexibility problem
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What Apple’s New Vision Pro Headset Might Do to Our Brain
The release of Apple’s mixed-reality headset raises questions about hours spent in a virtual replacement of our world
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WeChange
We are not a unicorn and we do not want to become one. The Internet is too important to make short-term profits at the expense of the users* or to leave it to a handful of big data and software companies. That is why we have chosen a different path and founded a cooperative in 2016.
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datarequests.org
You have a right to
data erasure.
Companies have to give you access to your data and correct or even delete them if necessary.
As a non-profit association, we help you use those rights – free of charge and registration, of course. -
Our work isn’t over: Keep fighting for the freedom to learn
It’s not easy being an anti-DRM activist, especially heading into
2024. Not content with locking down software and streaming media, the
massive corporations peddling this unjust technology have even
extended their reach into the world’s libraries. OverDrive is the
worst of these offenders — and by their actions, an enemy of
universal education everywhere. Digital Restrictions Management
(DRM) is fundamentally incompatible with the humanitarian
principles that guide libraries, which is why we targeted them for
this year’s International Day Against DRM (IDAD).No matter how active we are, a single day is not enough to reverse
this dangerous trend for even the most dedicated group of activists.
As anti-DRM activists, we know this; we are used to millions of
dollars in media propaganda working against us. In just a short time,
Follett, OverDrive, and others have perpetuated the idea that ebooks
should be subject to the same restrictions as physical media. As more
and more readers turn to ebooks, libraries are forced to keep up with
the trend, often having to pay onerous licensing fees just for the
“privilege” of keeping the work in stock, and, often unknowingly,
exposing their patrons’ data.Let me be clear: thanks to digital media, and for the first time in
history, free (as in freedom), universal education for all is within
reach. Corporate greed is the only thing standing in the way of this
goal. OverDrive and Follet have used the millions of dollars and
incredible engineering talent they have at their disposal to develop
new ways to restrict readers and spy on them, all while claiming to
uphold core educational principles like universal access and freedom
from censorship. They would rather spend their time and energy
devising new ways to make money for their shareholders — not authors
— and limiting our access to media even further than physical media
does naturally.IDAD, and the Defective by Design campaign itself, is our way of
drawing attention to these issues. Given our size, we can’t change
things ourselves. What we can do is point to the way things should be
and could be. We can call out those who claim good ideals while doing
their opposite, and we can continue on with our work. It’s all up to
us — and you.IDAD may be over this year, but our work against DRM continues. We
invite you to join us in campaigning against DRM in whatever way
interests you, whether that’s suggesting edits and making corrections
to the Guide to DRM-free Living, joining the #dbd IRC channel
on Libera.Chat, or spreading the message about the Defective by Design
campaign far and wide through your own initiative. And, if you are on
social media already, you can post with the hashtag
#EndDRM. We’re always on the lookout for anti-DRM success
stories as well, so if you’ve had some results you’d like to share
with us, please write us at campaigns@fsf.org. -
Worldwide community of activists protest OverDrive and others forcing DRM upon libraries
BOSTON, Massachusetts, USA — Tuesday, November 28, 2023 — The Free
Software Foundation (FSF) has announced its Defective by Design
campaign’s 17th annual International Day Against DRM (IDAD). It
will protest uses of Digital Restrictions Management technology’s
hold over public libraries around the world, exemplified by
corporations like OverDrive and Follett Destiny. IDAD will take place
digitally and worldwide on December 8, 2023.This year, the FSF stands up for libraries everywhere with its
International Day against DRM (aka IDAD), the organization’s annual
protest against Digital Restrictions Managament (DRM), which is
organized as part of the Defective by Design campaign. Anyone can join
in this year’s activities, and they can learn more by going to the
Defective by Design website.This year’s campaign draws attention to the ways libraries, and by
extension, their patrons, are mistreated by corporations like
OverDrive, makers of the “Libby” app that have a near monopolistic
control over digital lending in the United States. Services like
OverDrive and Follet Destiny mandate “controlled digital lending”
schemes, imposing artificial scarcity on a digital good. They also
require monthly or annual fees in order to have the privilege of
having a book or piece of media in circulation. Should the library
struggle with paying its licensing fees, like the New York Public
Library, then its “access” is “rescinded.”“There once was a time when you could donate a book to the library to
give others in your community access to it. There once was a time when
libraries owned the works that they provide to the public, rather
than finding themselves trapped by unethical technology and predatory
licensing fees,” said Greg Farough, campaigns manager at the FSF. “If
we want to ensure that our cultural legacy lasts, we need to focus our
attention on corporations like OverDrive, who make a living out of
leeching on libraries, which are already underfunded.” Farough added,
“OverDrive’s treatment of libraries — and wrapping it in unjust
Digital Restrictions Management — is absolutely unconscionable.”All who are interested in participating in this year’s protest are
encouraged to visit the International Day Against DRM site to
learn more about how to get involved.Now in its seventeenth year, Defective by Design has a long history of
campaigning for users’ rights to control their media and the devices
they use to interact with it. Being the anti-DRM campaign of the
FSF, it is inspired by the spirit and community of the global
movement for user freedom. As proprietary (i.e. nonfree) software is
the method by which most DRM is implemented, the FSF started the
campaign in 2006 as an extension of its mission to bring freedom to
computer users.The campaign’s call to action is for the International Day Against
DRM, but it nevertheless encourages its supporters to speak out
against DRM in media any time they have the opportunity. Defective by
Design’s organizers are inviting other organizations and individuals
to collaborate with them in their work against DRM, by contacting
info@defectivebydesign.org to discuss possible actions. The campaign
is funded by individuals who join as FSF associate members and
those who make a donation.About Defective By Design
Defective by Design is the FSF’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 product 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
https://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://my.fsf.org/civicrm/contribute/transact?reset=1&id=40, and
the campaign can be reached via social media at @endDRM on
Twitter, and @endDRM@hostux.social on Mastodon.About the Free Software Foundation
The Free Software Foundation (FSF), 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 https://www.fsf.org and https://www.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.Images Copyright © 2023 Free Software Foundation, Inc. Licensed
under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.