marilu’s blog

To do an internship in Switzerland, where everything is different to Italy, is just a fantastic opportunity…but can do it at FSFE is a very formative experience.
I think I am a very lucky person to have this chance.
Usually do an internship means do fotocopies for old employees and to clean their computers!..
It is very hard for students improve their knowledge, because nobody spends time to explaine  what is your responsability, and day by day your enthusiasm goes away!
But here everything is different! You can study and learn new works!…You don’t worry about the fact that maybe you don’t have the right knowledge, people here think that you can learn everything…if you want!
Only in these case a stage is better than study on a book!
Your curiosity to understand what are the dynamics of the job, how to resolve the problems, increases every day.            
Here I can feel beginner, but not stupid at all!

I’m not a tecnology student so I can’t explain why DRM is a bad idea from a scientific perspective. However, I’m the kind of person who likes understand what’s happening around me and DRM botheres me. I want to explain why that is, and I’ve collected my thoughts to make it clear why DRM is bad for society.

DRM is technology “used to control access to and usage of digital data”. It locks up your digital media. The vendors say that this is necessary to prevent the illegal duplication of artistic works. I doubt that. I believe DRM is a method to lock-up your digital data and to kill the free circulation of culture.

With DRM it’s hard to know what you’re actually getting with your money; it fundimentally treats every fan of art, music or culture as a criminal.

Let’s look at examples of DRM:

Another example are DVDs that you cannot play around the world because of regional restrictions. Worse still, DVDs can also be used to impose restrictions on your computer and also have the potential to insert secret code.

These are absurd examples of what’s happening in the computer and entertainment world.

It does not stop there though. DRM is controlled by a powerful lobby of multinationals. Their DRM has the potential to lock-out small hardware and software companies from the new DRM market. Small companies who cannot afford to be part of the lobby will simply find that they are unable to provide tools to users; their music players won’t work and their computers won’t allow access to on-line content.

Almost everyone will lose with DRM. People who buy music, movies or use artistic data will have their actions determined and reported to the DRM lobby. Small companies will simply not be able to make competitive products anymore. The only winners with DRM are the big DRM lobby companies.

I’m worried about that. I hope you will be too.

It is only my second day as intern in FSFE and this morning I could participate at the demonstration against DRM, organised in Zurich! It was a very exciting experience because we protested against the infringement of rights that are included in every person’s life. What is happening in the computer and entertainment world is damaging freedom and culture, but unfortunately not everybody, especially those who are not computer experts, understand the aggression of DRM. This morning I had the great opportunity to explain to people how our world is changing and how absurd it is to depend on the control of producers. I met many interesting people of every age who believe in, support and organised this protest to protect technologies. I think it was a really good way to start my internship!