Announcing the 2006 "Shackled Banana" Award (Updated)
Nominations are now open for the 2006 "Shackled Banana" Award.
The Shackled Banana is awarded to the individual or organisation who has done the most in the past 12 months to employ technical and/or legal means to restrict the freedom of the residents of the Coffs Coast to actively participate in their culture and society.
Please enter your nominations below. Entries will be judged at the next ClubLinux meeting on 1st October, followed by an attempt to present the award to the winner or their local representative on 3rd October, the world wide Day Against DRM. Update: At the meeting on Sunday, we decided to extend the nomination period to 11th October; the winner will then be decided by a poll on the website.
About the "Shackled Banana"
The Shackled Banana Award began in 2006, when a group of Coffs Coast computer nerds couldn't be bothered organising a real event so soon after Software Freedom Day, so they decided to raise awareness of the dangers of so-called "Digital Rights Management" (DRM) by embarrassing people in positions of responsibility.
The banana represents both the connection between the award and the interests of a real local community, and the long tradition of reuse of cultural material. It is unknown which comic artist first pioneered the use of the banana, or just the banana skin, in lowbrow humour, but the freedom to reuse and build on this initial work has created a rich array of cultural products.
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augh, so many to choose from
That is a great idea. There are of course the usuall suspects like Harvey Norman, The Good Guys and Retrovision on the grounds of undisclosed limitations to the sale transaction.
DRM enabled products should be labeled as such. The basic limitations of the purchase should also be disclosed at the point of sale . Where buyers are thinking they are participating in a simple money for box exchange they are, in fact, handing over money in agreeance with the terms and conditions of the manufacturer in a user, rather than owner, relationship.
Also, they have a huge problem when somebody buys a computer and does not accept the terms and conditions of the use of the software. Because one has not accepted the agreement they can't be legally bound to the sale. The store sends you to Microsoft for the refund and Microsoft sends you back to the store. The retail outlet are just trying to sell boxes and it is not fair that they should be put in this situation, but it is their responsibility to either set the relationship straight with their suppliers or disclose the limitations of the hardware (DRM), the limitations of the ownership (license of use) and the some options of use (other OS).
I understand I am combining some issues here, but I hope it makes sence. I think we should make up a few. Will we print certificates, or make up some little wooden things (trophies?) and deliver them with good grace, humour and little effort?
on second thoughts
As an early otion, inspired by *padlock over banana* posted by Matthew:
a vertical banana with rusty fetters: it is very simple but the media, in a case like this can be based on real objects, which seems to me, easier to template.
we might even be able to organise a co-operation with the community men's shed and would certainly be able to use their tools.
The Low-Hanging Scandal-Fruit
Lets get the usual suspects out of the way:
Hooray for doublespeak. Without it Microsoft's "PlaysForSure" certification would have to be named "You Might Be Able to Play This and You Might Not; Depends on How We Feel at the Time". And Apple's "FairPlay" technology would be "We Think it's Fair That You Can't Play Something You Paid For". We'd lose the brevity and warm fuzzies that only propaganda can provide.
The many and varied ways that Microsoft's latest software ensures that audio or video you've legally aquired won't play for sure are mind-boggling, never mind the fact that Microsoft's new media player hardware uses an incompatible "rights management" system. Want to play music you bought to listen to on your Microsoft PC media player software on your new Microsoft portable media player device? Guess what? You'll have to buy it all over again! This is like buying a book you can only read at home, then buying an identical copy to read in the park. Talk about having your rights managed!
Now we all know that when the interests of their customers are threatened by security flaws and other bugs in their software, Microsoft will leap into action, sometimes taking less than a month to fix the problem. So what's the turn-around time when their own interests, and the interests of their partners in the entertainment industry are threatened? Computer security guru Bruce Schneier reports that it's a mere three days between discovery and remedy of flaws in the PlaysForSure DRM system. Critical security issues can always wait. But a flaw in a system you never asked for, which restricts what you could otherwise legally do with your computer, that's got to be fixed immediately.
Meanwhile Apple, the company that once exhorted us to "Rip. Mix. Burn", is selling music designed to be unplayable on any portable media player except their own. In any other industry this kind of vertical integration for the purposes of creating a monopoly would be a clear violation of anti-trust laws, but...
Hey!!! Look over there! PIRACY!!!