Uwe Hermann | A slightly paranoid Debian developer

The EFF has published a paper called "Unintended Consequences: Seven Years under the DMCA". It contains a huge list of things which went wrong since the DMCA was introduced.

The conclusion:

Years of experience with the "anti-circumvention" provisions of the DMCA demonstrate that the statute reaches too far, chilling a wide variety of legitimate activities in ways Congress did not intend. As an increasing number of copyright works are wrapped in technological protection measures, it is likely that the DMCA's anti-circumvention provisions will be applied in further unforeseen contexts, hindering the legitimate activities of innovators, researchers, the press, and the public at large.

(via Symlink)

Nat Friedman (co-founder of Ximian) is surprised that many people have not yet watched Lawrence Lessig's great free culture presentation. He calls it the "most brilliant and important presentation I have ever seen". I fully agree.

I didn't know the presentation, but I'm watching and listening to it right now, while I'm typing these words. Lawrence Lessig manages to make it very clear that we're about to lose many of our freedoms (think DRM, DMCA, software patents, ...) if we don't do something against it. And we need to do it now!

At the very least we can support organizations which fight for the cause, e.g. the EFF.

(via Nat Friedman)