The fight for digital freedom and rights concerns a wide variety of issues such as open source vs. commercial software, the right to share information freely, the right to conduct research and scientific cooperation without conditions or obstacles imposed by commercial or government entities, the development of free non proprietary standards, privacy, etc. Since there are already many active organizations and a lot of information available on these subjects, this page aims at providing a list of key issues and projects in order to guide and raise awareness on these subjects of great importance to individuals and businesses alike.

digital freedom advocacy list

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) - a legal defense organization which opposes misguided legislation, initiates and defends court cases preserving individuals' rights, launches global public campaigns, introduces leading edge proposals and papers, hosts frequent educational events, engages the press regularly, and publishes a comprehensive archive of digital civil liberties information.

The Digital Speech Project of the Free Software Foundation - one of the strongest voices against the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) of 1998 and the proposed Consumer Broadband and Digital TV Promotion Act (CBDTPA) which pose an unprecedented attack on the rights of all who use technology. The DMCA severely restricts traditional "fair use rights" which grant consumers certain rights to alter or copy a copyrighted work (as long as they do not distribute unlicensed copies of the product).

Anti-DMCA.org - from their about page: This site is the result of many people's anger toward the DMCA, Corporations, loss of Constitutional Rights, the WTO and the buying of America and her laws.

StopPoliceware.org - a big opponent of the CBDTPA bill. A law that would force all new personal computers and digital home entertainment devices sold in the United States to have government-approved "policeware" built-in.

AgainstTCPA.com - A german based initiative against the so called Trusted Computer Platform. It is a hardware-software implementation which will give some corporations control over what we can or cannot do with our computers. Eg.: you would not be able to run third party software on your MS Windows unless it's been "blessed" by Microsoft. Please read a comprehensive FAQ by Ross Anderson. This case can be won by simply not buying TCPA enabled hardware while we still have choice, thus preventing that it becomes a standard.

Xiph.Org Foundation is a non-profit corporation dedicated to protecting the foundations of Internet multimedia from control by private interests. Their purpose is to support and develop free, open protocols and software to serve the public, developer and business markets. They have a well written about page. This organization has developed the OggVorbis (.ogg) audio and .ogm video formats which are free non proprietary and superior quality replacements for .mp3 and .avi. You can download all the relative software (and media) from Vorbis.com.
 
To enable your windows system to play .ogg and .ogm files you'll need this codec:
OggDS0995.exe - the latest version is available from the developer.
 
You can also download this ogg audio file to test your installation:
Compay Segundo - Lágrimas negras.ogg 3.5mb (encoded on 14.07.03. You'll be missed but not forgotten, Compay)

Many descriptions are taken from their respective web sites.

A quote from the dark side:
What luck for rulers that men don't think.
-- Adolf Hitler