Free Software Foundation Campaigns Against iPhone 3G

The Free Software Foundation (FSF) has been campaigning against the iPhone 3G for quite some time. Their web site - Defective by Design - is an anti-digital rights management (DRM) initiative, which targets “Big Media, unhelpful manufacturers, and DRM distributors” in hopes of bringing public awareness of the issue and increasing participation in the initiative.

Their campaign aims to make all manufacturers wary about bringing their DRM-enabled products to market. DRM products “have been intentionally crippled from the users’ perspective, and are therefore ‘defective by design.’”

DRM is used to encrypt various multimedia products (including audio, video, and console games) and is intended to prevent copyright infringement by limiting or prohibiting duplication of the media. DRM can prevent users from duplicating a CD or a DVD, prevent someone watching a DVD from skipping a preview, or create problems with interoperability between competing products.

Recently, Defective by Design posted 5 reasons why consumers should avoid iPhone 3G. First reason - iPhone completely blocks free software; Second -  iPhone endorses and supports Digital Restrictions Management (DRM) technology; Third - iPhone exposes your whereabouts and provides ways for others to track you without your knowledge; Fourth - iPhone won’t play patent and DRM-free formats like Ogg Vorbis and Theora; and finally the Fifth reason - iPhone is not the only option.

With respect to DRM, Apple Inc CEO - Steve Jobs - seems to agree with them. Just over a year and a half ago, he slammed the big four music companies for their hypocritical DRM policies:

“Why would the big four music companies agree to let Apple and others distribute their music without using DRM systems to protect it? The simplest answer is because DRMs haven’t worked, and may never work, to halt music piracy. Though the big four music companies require that all their music sold online be protected with DRMs, these same music companies continue to sell billions of CDs a year which contain completely unprotected music. That’s right! No DRM system was ever developed for the CD, so all the music distributed on CDs can be easily uploaded to the Internet, then (illegally) downloaded and played on any computer or player.”

Richard Stallman, President of the FSF, explained the purpose of their campaign, ”The motive for DRM schemes is to increase profits for those who impose them, but their profit is a side issue when millions of people’s freedom is at stake; desire for profit, though not wrong in itself, cannot justify denying the public control over its technology. Defending freedom means thwarting DRM.”

The Free Software Foundation believes there are - what they call - ”better alternatives on the horizon that respect your freedom, don’t spy on you, play free media formats, and let you use free software.” And they prefer the FreeRunner.