The Apple/iPod DRM story seems to be a hot one at the moment. I’ve just got back from the Apple Store, where I did an interview with BBC journalist Sumant Bhatia. The segment will be on World Business Report on BBC World tomorrow morning, which BBC1 and BBC News 24 air at 0530. After that, [...]

Read the rest of "ORG on the BBC"

In the UK, the Open Rights Group, another consumer protection organisation, has been lobbying MPs to force companies to open up their DRM. “If I buy a car I expect any brand of petrol to work in it. Consumers are starting to see that they can do less with the music they buy,” says Suw [...]

Read the rest of "ORG in the FT"

STOCKHOLM (AFP) - Denmark, Norway and Sweden plan to force Apple Computers Inc to break the exclusive link between its iPod music players and online iTunes store.
The three Scandinavian countries have decided to take iTunes to their respective government mediators, or ombudsmen.
“iTunes’ terms and conditions are illegal in all three countries,” Swedish Consumer Agency [...]

Read the rest of "Denmark, Norway and Sweden put pressure on Apple’s iTunes"

Last year, the Open Rights Group submitted evidence to the All Party Internet Group’s public inquiry into digital rights management (DRM) after carrying out it’s own public consultation into questions raised by the call for evidence. In February this year, ORG gave oral evidence to the APIG inquiry, giving a concise statement regarding ORG’s position [...]

Read the rest of "Launch of the APIG report on DRM"

The All Party Parliamentary Internet Group today launched the report of their inquiry into Digital Rights Management.
ORG is pleased to see the APIG making such a robust and sensible set of recommendations, many of which coincide with ORG’s recommendations to the inquiry.
APIG points out tht DRM can have a range of damaging effects, impacting on [...]

Read the rest of "Tech-Savvy MPs Come Out Against DRM"

I was yesterday at the Guardian’s Changing Media conference, at which our very own Dr Ian Brown spoke on DRM. These are my notes, cross-posted from my own blog, Strange Attractor.
Can digital rights management achieve its security goals?
Chair: Nick Higham
Dr Ian Brown, UCL (and also ORG)
Nick Higham
ONe of the things that alarms content owners [...]

Read the rest of "Guardian Changing Media: Digital Rights Management"

French MPs are examining measures that would force the sharing of copy-protection software with the aim of ensuring that any music can be played on any player regardless of format or source:
The French bill says that proprietary copy-protection technologies must not block interoperability between different systems.
Rightly, the French are worried about monopolies. DRM is cast [...]

Read the rest of "French lead the way on music downloads"

Michael Geist reports that Sony are facing another class action suit over their PC-damaging DRM. It looks like they were in no rush to protect consumers in Canada.
I wonder how well they did in the UK?

Read the rest of "Sony Get Sued in Canada"

The following notes were taking during the inquiry and they are my best attempts at keeping up with what was said. They are not verbatim notes - in fact, the APIG committee is going to publish a transcript of the sessions, at which point you’ll be able to compare and contrast, and see just how [...]

Read the rest of "APIG DRM public inquiry hearing"

The Open Rights Group has been asked by the All Party Parliamentary Internet Group to attend its oral evidence gathering session on 2 February. ORG will send three representatives - the maximum allowed - who will be questioned by MPs.
Other groups that have been invited include:

Society for Computers and Law
British Library
Libraries Archives Copyright Alliance (LACA)
FFII-UK
Share [...]

Read the rest of "ORG invited to give oral evidence to APIG DRM public inquiry"