Last month, we wondered how many people would care about the iPad’s restrictive DRM shackles, which makes Apple the only available supplier of software for the iPad through the fact that users can only download software onto the gadget from Apple’s App Store (unless someone figures out a way to jailbreak it — which’ll probably happen within the first 48 hours after it ships, considering the fact that the iPad’s OS is based off the continually jailbroken iPhone, and the supposition that every genius hacker on the planet is spending every waking moment thinking about it).
Anyway, apparently the answer is: thousands.
Anti-DRM group Defective by Design, who staged a protest last month outside San Francisco’s Moscone Center where the iPad was unveiled, told us that their online petition is currently up to 8,800 signatures since its inception four days ago; although the first 5,000 signatures were captured within 24 hours. DbD has already sent off their first 5,000 signatures in the form of a giant postcard (that’s it in the photo above).
John Sullivan, DbD’s operations manager, says the group is dedicated to getting Apple to remove DRM and DRM enforcement from all its software and media, and has singled out the iPad in particular, because of how it’s designed to be such a widely-used device, and to be used by less tech-savvy people who might not be aware of DRM.
“What Apple is doing with software is quite different,” Sullivan told CoM. “This is a scary step … as Apple move towards this model in the future.”
When he was eight, Eli Milchman came home from frolicking in the Veld one day and was given an Atari 400. Since then, his fascination with technology has made him an intrepid early adopter of whatever charming new contraption crosses his path. He calls San Francisco home, where he works as a journalist and photographer. Eli has contributed to the pages of Wired.com and BIKE Magazine, among others. Hang with him on Twitter.
