John Sullivan, one of the Haz Mat suit geeks n

e nerds who stormed the nation’s Apple Stores last Friday, wrote us in response to our recent post, calling our attention to a write-up he did of Defective Design’s protest at Boston’s Cambridge Side Galleria. The fuzz seemed pretty cool with the whole thing:

The police approached us beforehand as we were gathering in the park across from the mall, distributing suits and signs. While the police were there in force, complete with paddy wagon, they were not confrontational. I explained what our plans were (it turned out they had already been informed down to fine details — Apple really had been busy) and even discussed the downsides of DRM. They offered to arrest some of us if we wanted, but we politely declined their offer.

John also has some words to the various idiots who think that it is ‘whining’ to believe that the “burn your mp3s to CDs, then rip again” is not only convenient but also is an adequate concession to consumer rights.

I hope we’ll be addressing the substantive comments (like those that have been made here about the ability to burn CDs as a means to not be annoyed by the DRM) in our writings as this campaign goes on. For now, let me just urge people to read the iTunes Terms of Service and Terms of Sale closely (as Consumerist readers surely love to do). They will see that the burning ability is provided as a mere “accommodation” (Apple’s words) and does not extend you any actual rights over your music. Since you are only licensing and not owning the music, any changes made by Apple to their terms could be applied retroactively. This means that all of that music you burned and imported to various places would suddenly be subject to the various new restrictions.

comment on this post

Activists investigate DRM contamination in MA Apple store [Defective By Design]

Want more consumer news? Visit our parent organization, Consumer Reports, for the latest on scams, recalls, and other consumer issues.