It’s that special time of year again, when we let the ones we love know how we feel about them. Here at ORG towers, we’d like to dedicate this Valentine’s Day to the recording industry. They may not always get it right, but good relationships are about listening, and about giving credit where it’s due. So we’d like to use today to thank the recording industry for listening to their customers over the past year and dropping restrictive DRMs.

Back in the analogue age, a starry-eyed lover would sit up all night making a compilation tape for his one true heart. The ORG email lists have been busy resurrecting this tradition over the past week (thanks, guys!), and the result is this - the ORG Valentine’s Day love mix. Each one has been suggested by an ORG supporter - and each one has a link to where to download the track DRM-free. Easy listening indeed.

Open Rights Group Valentine’s Day love mix

• Gary Numan and the Tubeway Army, Me! I disconnect from you
  Available from amazon.com at $0.99
• Clor, Dangerzone
  Available from iTunes Plus* at £0.79
• Chris Rainier & De Wet Van Der Spuy, You’re A Distant Voice On The Radio
  Available from bleep.com at £0.99
• Datblygu, Y Teimlad (”The Feeling”)
  Available from amazon.com at $0.99
• Cinematic Orchestra, All That You Give
  Available from play.com for £0.70
• James, Laid
  Available from amazon.com at $0.89
• Jeffrey Lewis, Don’t Let the Record Label Take You Out To Lunch
  Available from Playlouder and eMusic as part of a monthly subscription deal
• Kraftwerk, Computer Love
  Available from amazon.com for $0.99
• Joy Division, Love will tear us apart
  Available from amazon.com at $0.99
• Dionne Warwick, You’re Gonna Need Me
  Available from iTunes Plus* for £0.79
• Reel Big Fish, Sell Out
  Available from amazon.com at $0.99
• Ulrich Schnauss, Clear Day
  Available from bleep.com at £0.99
• Queen, Who wants to live forever?
  Available from amazon.com at $0.99

*Note that to get the tracks we’ve suggested from iTunes Plus DRM-free, you’ll need to have an updated version of iTunes

Finally, a note of warning to UK residents - do not try making this compilation at home. Why? Because despite the fact these tracks are DRM-free, creating the compilation on a USB stick or CD would be in breach of the civil provisions of UK copyright law. If you’re interested in seeing this law changed, you’re in luck - the UK Intellectual Property Office are consulting on changing the law on “format shifting” right now. Help us respond here. And Happy Valentines Day.

Thanks to all the guys and girls who brought their bonhommie and yuletide spirit down on Saturday for our xmas party. The strong turnout could be explained by our Copyfighters revival but then again maybe the promise of free drink and party bags brought the crowds in. Either way it was great to see so many ORG volunteers and supporters getting down and festive. Particular highlights for me were the 650 Santas who swept through the venue on a boozy rampage, my first-ever game of werewolf and singing happy birthday to Creative Commons.

If you’ve uploaded photos of the night, please link them from the comments section below so we can all enjoy them. Also, please let us know if you want more Copyfighters in 2008. For the unitiated this informal, social event involves a trip to Speakers Corner for digital rights activists to vent on the day’s most pressing issues. If there’s sufficient support then we should bring it back.

Special thanks to Chris, Glyn, Sheila and Janita who helped pack the party bags. Most special thanks to Ian and Matthew from BBC Backstage who did much of the hosting and organisation.

Creative Commons (CC) celebrates its fifth birthday this weekend with a series of local celebrations across the globe, including Beijing, Berlin, San Francisco and Seoul. If you’re part of the worldwide CC Community, follow this link for details of all the different parties. And if you’re not yet aware of CC’s excellent and thoroughly open projects, from their suite of ’some rights reserved’ licences to the remix-community-incubator ccMixter, then be sure to get familiar.

ORG’s invitation to join the party arrived a little late but luckily we already had a party planned for this weekend. So we’ll join in the celebrations by raising a toast and a slice of cake to legal and creative sharing at our christmas party, which is this Saturday 15 December. If you’re a part of the CC community please come down and join our bash. The event is hosted by BBC Backstage and we have a whole heap of fun planned for our guests, including a very special revival of Cory Doctorow’s Copyfighters.

Here’s all the details, including instructions for signing up:

Where? Ye Olde Cock Tavern, 22 Fleet Street, London EC4Y 1AA
When? 19.30 - 02:00, Saturday 15 December 2007
Tickets: via Eventwax - click here to register
Any questions? Phone +44 (0)20 7096 1079 or email info at openrightsgroup dot org.

BBC Backstage is once again kindly sharing its gert big Christmas bash with Open Rights Group. And this one’s shaping up to even bigger and better than last year. For those who didn’t make it, here’s some picture of 2006’s full-to-bursting party.

So this time around, on Saturday 15 December, we’re taking over a 4-floor pub in the City of London. Amongst other treats there will be music, cake, party bags, werewolf and - for one night only - we’re delighted to announce the return of Copyfighters, featuring the magical Cory Doctorow. You should fully expect mayhem, drunken fandango and herds of Santas.

There are 100 tickets reserved for ORGites and due to expected demand you must register on eventwax (which only requires your name, email address and “org” as the promo code). Please use the ‘Open Rights Group’ ticket option so we don’t snaffle the backstagers’ allocation.

Where? Ye Olde Cock Tavern, 22 Fleet Street, London EC4Y 1AA
When? 19.30 - 02:00, Saturday 15 December 2007
Tickets: via Eventwax - click here to register
Any questions? Phone +44 (0)20 7096 1079 or email info at openrightsgroup dot org.

OK, I know I’m several weeks late on this, but Electech and UKUUG’s tribute to SysAdmins everywhere is well worth watching (and I’m not just saying that because it features our very own James Cronin, and the ORG logo).

So thanks to all the SysAdmins, designers and other volunteers who keep ORG running!

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