The Zohar Class

From Wikipedia:

Digital Rights Management (generally abbreviated to DRM) is any of several technologies used by publishers (or copyright owners) to control access to and usage of digital data (such as software, music, movies) and hardware, handling usage restrictions associated with a specific instance of a digital work.

The producers of films and music are trying to keep the rights to their own. Slowly government rules are taking place, forbidding the right to copy digital work, even if its for personal purposes.
Lately, a bill has passed in France, known as DADVSI (in English: “law on authors’ rights and related rights in the information society”).

Most of the bill focuses on the repression of the exchange of copyrighted works over peer-to-peer networks and the criminalizing of the circumvention of DRM protection measures. The law… could significantly hamper free software, and also may significantly restrict the right to make copies of copyrighted works for private use.

StopDRM, (translated, original page here), a group of French activists are calling against the law.

After the adoption of law DADVSI by the government, greatest confusion reigns: the users of peer-to-peer received the insurance of the Minister for the culture which justice will be lenient, but the members of the StopDRM Collective worry for the consumers, who “do not pirate” but buy the music and films: what will arrive to them, now that the law was promulgated, if they circumvent the DRM for the legitimate use of works? And if they say it and inform the population? Are they assured them also any leniency?

3 members of the group have stepped forward. They went to the police to get arrested under the slogan “A lawsuit is wanted“.

The three have bought the original work of either music from iTunes or DVDs and transferred them to their portable media players by circumventing the code, thus breaking the law. One of them even have created a page Internet explaining how to remove the DRM of a protected bought work so that everyone can transfer its pieces on its portable player. While waiting for the response of the legal authorities, this page is accessible to all and is on http://drm.mediaarea.net.
The third, for its part, used a free software to read a DVD under GNU/Linux.

All of the three are about to face charges. The police officer was thinking that they are kidding with him, but at some point he discovered that they are right - this is illegal.

They most probably are facing sanctions of 3.750 euros fine for deliberated use with technical measurements realized by a Net surfer by his own means, six months of imprisonment and 30.000 euros fine for the provider of means of skirting, which acts in a deliberated way.

The problem is not the fact that you can do it at home, and nobody will know, but the fact that it is illegal to do so. A similar law is already applied in the US, and sooner or later, will take place in most of the countries in the world.
Ripping a DVD that I bought in order to save a copy of it at home or to be able to transfer it to a portable device and breaking the DRM of a song I bought from iTunes in order to play it on a non Apple device are my rights.

Lately, microsoft have released their own portable player, Zune, which is applying DRM to every song and video which is transferred to it, even if the title is under a GNU or a Creative Commons licence (of which, its against the licence to apply DRM).

The fight has only just begun.