Free software communities further protest Apple after iPad launch

When Halex briefly commented on the opinion of members of the Defective by Design campaign on the iPad, large free software communities were not expected to express such a negative opinion about Apple's new product. However, this is exactly what happened: the fact that the company created a new class of devices for people based on closed software and DRM drew the ire of the Free Software Foundation (FSF), which issued an official statement rejecting the product on day of its release.

“DRM (Digital Rights Management, or digital rights management) used by Apple to restrict users' freedom in a number of ways, including blocking software installation from anywhere (other than their own App Store) and regulating access to movies downloaded from the iTunes Store, ”says FSF. "Apple further claims that circumventing these restrictions is a criminal offense, even for the purposes permitted by copyright law."

The FSF leads the Defective by Design campaign and further protested on the day of the Apple event, placing volunteers dressed as Steve Jobs on the streets of San Francisco to hold posters similar to the one in the following photo:

In the past, the FSF did not make as many criticisms related to the iPhone OS, but because Apple has adopted it on a device that will technically target the public as a computer (or add-on to one), the Cupertino company should be quite plagued by advocacy groups for free software. Although the system is based on open source technologies, the layer of restrictions that Apple applies to applications marketed on the App Store will be even more criticized, due to the use of DRM even if only to protect the code of its developers against piracy.

The same goes for obtaining content from the iTunes Store and the new iBookstore (which uses the open standard ePub for ebook distribution): both use DRM for content protection (even if it is no longer for music), preventing sharing practices. average between users. Again, it is good to remember that these limitations were common in the App Store, but with the creation of a device that is practically a “computer” powered by all of them, the possibility of free software organizations to make more protests against Apple grows.

Defective by Design has already prepared an online petition to expand the protest against the iPad among online communities, claiming that, to make even more profit, its manufacturer is threatening people's freedom. "This is a big step backwards in the history of computing," said Holmes Wilson of the FSF.

(via Ars Technica)