The Small Print Project                                       

Always nice to see an institution-wide boycott of DRM (especially at a U.S. university).

From the MIT Libraries blog:

The MIT Libraries have canceled access to the Society of Automotive Engineers’ web-based database of technical papers, rejecting the SAE’s requirement that MIT accept the imposition of Digital Rights Management (DRM) technology.

[.....]

At a time when technology makes it possible to share research more quickly and broadly than ever before, and when innovative automotive research is a matter of global concern, SAE is limiting access to the research that has been entrusted to the society. In addition to imposing DRM on access to the papers for paid subscribers, the SAE also prevents information about its papers from being found through any channel other than the ones they control.

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The entire post is worth reading — it includes faculty and administration comments — and is a good model for universities.

http://news-libraries.mit.edu/blog/archives/388

Comments(1)

We’ve all heard out his “Thoughts on Music” and, well, his words seem to have faded into the ether like the latest terror alert.

Free Software Foundation’s campaign against DRM (defectivebydesign.org) is stepping up and needs our help. On April 1, they’re sending Jobs a letter that we should all sign on to (and add our comments). They’ve got 5,000 sigs already and are hoping to top 7,500!

Click here to sign the letter.

Lets get on Jobs’ ass to follow through on his “pledge” and sign on to the anti-DRM crusade.