Tag Amazon's DRM'd Products

Defective by Design launched an ingenious campaign today using Amazon's tagging and reviewing features to show potential buyers how the product might limit their potential uses of their own property!

We have started tagging items that contain DRM (Blu-Ray players, Blu-Ray DVDs, the Zune, the iPod, Amazon Unbox movies etc.) with the "defectivebydesign” tag.

As products get tagged over and over again with a particular tag, that tag surfaces to the top of the list, and displays in larger text in some views. There is also a page for pictures and discussions of the tag. Tag these products and search for similar DRM products to tag now!

All of the international Amazon websites allow customers to review products. Review a DRM product NOW as a way to warn others of the problems they may face because of DRM. Once you have reviewed a product you can post the link as a comment on our site, to encourage other DefectiveByDesign crew members to rate your review. If you see a product review that points out the DRM problems you can also rate that review highly so that others will see it.

Merit Patch in "Copyright Propaganda"

The Los Angeles Council of the Boy Scouts of America will offer
rewards to Scouts who absorb a brainwashing regime written by the
MPAA. The merit patch in "respecting copyright" will almost certainly
not include any training on fair use, or anything about the fact that the
film industry is located in ... Read more at BoingBoing

I am strongly opposed to the Boy Scouts of America presenting a one
sided propagandist view on an issue that is full of debate and
long-term social implication for future generations. I urge the BSA to
reach out to organizations like EFF and Public Knowledge to educate
themselves on the issues relating to copyrights. The BAS should not be
a grounds for disseminating propaganda but a place to learn to think for
oneself and make responsible and informed decisions.

I am an Eagle Scout and proud of both the accomplishment and the
lessons that I learned from scouts relating to community service and
responsibility. I will do everything I can as an Eagle Scout to
ensure that that the BSA does not become a platform for propaganda.

PUBPAT CHALLENGES MONSANTO PATENTS

(The following article is from Pubpat, a not-for-profit legal services organization that represents the public's interests against the harms caused by the patent system. I highly recomend checking them out at pubpat.org)

New York, NY -- September 29, 2006 -- The Public Patent Foundation
("PUBPAT") filed formal requests with the United States Patent and
Trademark Office today to review and ultimately revoke four of Monsanto
Company's patents related to genetically modified crops that the
agricultural giant is using to harass, intimidate, sue - and in some
cases literally bankrupt - American farmers. In its filings, PUBPAT
submitted prior art showing the patents were obvious in light of earlier
work by other inventors and, as such, should have never been granted.

Monsanto has filed dozens of patent infringement lawsuits asserting the
four challenged patents against American farmers, many of whom are
unable to hire adequate representation to defend themselves in court.
The crime these farmers are accused of is nothing more than saving seed
from one year's crop to replant the following year, something farmers
have done since the beginning of time. The Center for Food Safety found
in its study of the matter that, "Monsanto has used heavy-handed
investigations and ruthless prosecutions that have fundamentally changed
the way many American farmers farm. The result has been nothing less
than an assault on the foundations of farming practices and traditions
that have endured for centuries in this country and millennia around the
world, including one of the oldest, the right to save and replant crop
seed."

"Monsanto's aggressive assertion of its patents is not only obnoxious
and offensive to the core fabric of American life and culture, it is
also causing substantial public harm," said Dan Ravicher, PUBPAT's
Executive Director. "It appears as though Monsanto wants to control all