"Only a week after the International Day Against DRM, Mozilla has announced that it will partner with proprietary software company Adobe to implement support for Web-based Digital Restrictions Management (DRM) in its Firefox browser, using Encrypted Media Extensions (EME).

The Free Software Foundation is deeply disappointed in Mozilla's announcement. The decision compromises important principles in order to alleviate misguided fears about loss of browser marketshare. It allies Mozilla with a company hostile to the free software movement and to Mozilla's own fundamental ideals.

Although Mozilla will not directly ship Adobe's proprietary DRM plugin, it will, as an official feature, encourage Firefox users to install the plugin from Adobe when presented with media that requests DRM. We agree with Cory Doctorow that there is no meaningful distinction between 'installing DRM' and 'installing code that installs DRM.'

We recognize that Mozilla is doing this reluctantly, and we trust these words coming from Mozilla much more than we do when they come from Microsoft or Amazon. At the same time, nearly everyone who implements DRM says they are forced to do it, and this lack of accountability is how the practice sustains itself. Mozilla's announcement today unfortunately puts it -- in this regard -- in the same category as its proprietary competitors.

Unlike those proprietary competitors, Mozilla is going to great lengths to reduce some of the specific harms of DRM by attempting to 'sandbox' the plugin. But this approach cannot solve the fundamental ethical problems with proprietary software, or the issues that inevitably arise when proprietary software is installed on a user's computer.

In the announcement, Mitchell Baker asserts that Mozilla's hands were tied. But she then goes on to actively praise Adobe's "value" and suggests that there is some kind of necessary balance between DRM and user freedom.

There is nothing necessary about DRM, and to hear Mozilla praising Adobe -- the company who has been and continues to be a vicious opponent of the free software movement and the free Web -- is shocking. With this partnership in place, we worry about Mozilla's ability and willingness to criticize Adobe's practices going forward.

We understand that Mozilla is afraid of losing users. Cory Doctorow points out that they have produced no evidence to substantiate this fear or made any effort to study the situation. More importantly, popularity is not an end in itself. This is especially true for the Mozilla Foundation, a nonprofit with an ethical mission. In the past, Mozilla has distinguished itself and achieved success by protecting the freedom of its users and explaining the importance of that freedom: including publishing Firefox's source code, allowing others to make modifications to it, and sticking to Web standards in the face of attempts to impose proprietary extensions.

Today's decision turns that calculus on its head, devoting Mozilla resources to delivering users to Adobe and hostile media distributors. In the process, Firefox is losing the identity which set it apart from its proprietary competitors -- Internet Explorer and Chrome -- both of which are implementing EME in an even worse fashion.

Undoubtedly, some number of users just want restricted media like Netflix to work in Firefox, and they will be upset if it doesn't. This is unsurprising, since the majority of the world is not yet familiar with the ethical issues surrounding proprietary software. This debate was, and is, a high-profile opportunity to introduce these concepts to users and ask them to stand together in some tough decisions.

To see Mozilla compromise without making any public effort to rally users against this supposed "forced choice" is doubly disappointing. They should reverse this decision. But whether they do or do not, we call on them to join us by devoting as many of their extensive resources to permanently eliminating DRM as they are now devoting to supporting it. The FSF will have more to say and do on this in the coming days. For now, users who are concerned about this issue should:

• Write to Mozilla CTO Andreas Gal and let him know that you oppose DRM. Mozilla made this decision in a misguided appeal to its userbase; it needs to hear in clear and reasoned terms from the users who feel this as a betrayal. Ask Mozilla what it is going to do to actually solve the DRM problem that has created this false forced choice.

• Join our effort to stop EME approval at the W3C. While today's announcement makes it even more obvious that W3C rejection of EME will not stop its implementation, it also makes it clear that W3C can fearlessly reject EME to send a message that DRM is not a part of the vision of a free Web.

• Use a version of Firefox without the EME code: Since its source code is available under a license allowing anyone to modify and redistribute it under a different name, we expect versions without EME to be made available, and you should use those instead. We will list them in the Free Software Directory.

• Donate to support the work of the Free Software Foundation and our Defective by Design campaign to actually end DRM. Until it's completely gone, Mozilla and others will be constantly tempted to capitulate, and users will be pressured to continue using some proprietary software. If not us, give to another group fighting against digital restrictions."

References

• What is DRM?
• https://blog.mozilla.org/blog/2014/05/14/drm-and-the-challenge-of-serving-users/
• https://hacks.mozilla.org/2014/05/reconciling-mozillas-mission-and-w3c-eme/
• https://defectivebydesign.org/dbd-condemns-drm-in-html
• https://fsf.org/news/coalition-against-drm-in-html
• https://defectivebydesign.org/oscar-awarded-w3c-in-the-hollyweb

Media Contact

John Sullivan
Executive Director
Free Software Foundation
+1 (617) 542 5942
campaigns@fsf.org

About the Free Software Foundation

The Free Software Foundation, founded in 1985, is dedicated to promoting computer users' right to use, study, copy, modify, and redistribute computer programs. The FSF promotes the development and use of free (as in freedom) software -- particularly the GNU operating system and its GNU/Linux variants -- and free documentation for free software. The FSF also helps to spread awareness of the ethical and political issues of freedom in the use of software, and its Web sites, located at fsf.org and gnu.org, are an important source of information about GNU/Linux. Donations to support the FSF's work can be made at https://donate.fsf.org. Its headquarters are in Boston, MA, USA.

This item is available in French and Spanish.

In addition to individuals taking action through DayAgainstDRM.org, nine organizations have let Defective by Design know they are participating, including three businesses offering sales on DRM-free media. Activists in Bangladesh, France and Turkey translated the International Day Against DRM HAZMAT suit graphics into their native languages. More groups are expected to join on the day itself.

The community free software organization FOSS Bangladesh is participating for their second year. They wrote:

"In 2013 we joined the global community and supported International Day Against DRM. We think that IT giants' use of DRM is very wrong. To expose such wrong actions we stood out on the road at the key point of University of Dhaka and were noticed by the next generation leaders of Bangladesh, the pupils of University of Dhaka... In 2014 we are doing an open session at Daffodil University with writers, poets, novelists, artists, musicians, university students and teachers, where we hope to educate people about DRM."

O'Reilly media, a major ebook publisher, is offering a steep discount on ebooks in celebration of the International Day Against DRM. They told Defective by Design:

"Having the ability to download files at your convenience, store them on all your devices, or share them with a friend or colleague as you would a print book or DVD is liberating, and is how it should be. At O'Reilly Media, we've always published our ebooks DRM free, following the advice of Lao Tzu, who said, 2500 years ago, 'Fail to honor people, they fail to honor you.'"

John Sullivan, executive director of the Free Software Foundation, said of the International Day Against DRM: "It's exciting to see people around the world taking a stand on an issue that is so often glossed over in the public discourse. Every coordinated event that happens makes it that much harder for the press to accept DRM as business-as-usual, and gets us closer to a future without it."

Individuals can participate with a variety of online and in-person actions on DayAgainstDRM.org, from media downloads to gatherings. To be part of Defective by Design's year-round anti-DRM campaigns, supporters can join the low-volume Action Alerts email list. Media stores, activist organizations and other groups interested in participating in the International Day Against DRM today or in 2015 should contact info@defectivebydesign.org.

Participating organizations

A number of groups are holding in-person events. For times and meeting places, see the LibrePlanet wiki.

In addition to Defective by Design, three activist organizations are publicly joining the Day Against DRM:

• The Electronic Frontier Foundation is hosting an online teach-in, writing blog posts and circulating infographics
• Free Software Foundation Europe is releasing an open letter to the executive body of the European Union, demanding that they take a stand against the groups advocating for the addition of DRM hooks to HTML
• April, a French free software organization, is blogging and raising a storm on social media

Three online stores are participating by offering DRM-free media:

• O'Reilly is giving customers 50-60% off on ebooks
• The Humble Bundle has pay-what-you-want graphic novels
• No Starch Press is offering 50% off on ebooks

About Defective By Design

Defective by Design is the Free Software Foundation's campaign against Digital Restrictions Management (DRM). DRM is the practice of imposing technological restrictions that control what users can do with digital media, creating a good that is defective by design. DRM requires the use of proprietary software and is a major threat to computer user freedom. It often spies on users as well. The campaign, based at defectivebydesign.org, organizes anti-DRM activists for in-person and online actions, and challenges powerful media and technology interests promoting DRM. Supporters can donate to the campaign at https://crm.fsf.org/civicrm/contribute/transact?reset=1&id=40.

About the Free Software Foundation

The Free Software Foundation, founded in 1985, is dedicated to promoting computer users' right to use, study, copy, modify, and redistribute computer programs. The FSF promotes the development and use of free (as in freedom) software -- particularly the GNU operating system and its GNU/Linux variants -- and free documentation for free software. The FSF also helps to spread awareness of the ethical and political issues of freedom in the use of software, and its Web sites, located at fsf.org and gnu.org, are an important source of information about GNU/Linux. Donations to support the FSF's work can be made at https://donate.fsf.org. Its headquarters are in Boston, MA, USA.

Media Contact

Zak Rogoff
Campaigns Manager
Free Software Foundation
(202) 489-6887
campaigns@fsf.org

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Update: The deadline for this position has been extended

The ideal candidate will be a well-rounded GNU/Linux systems administrator who thrives on constant broad-based learning and problem-solving. (S)he will be familiar with the free software community and how it works, and will be more interested in making a substantial contribution to software freedom and having employment consistent with ethical ideals than obtaining the highest salary.

This is an opportunity to work for the organization that started the GNU Project, launched the free software movement, and safeguards the GNU General Public License. The position includes frequent contact and collaboration with many of the core GNU developers, and currently reports to the executive director.

Together, the senior systems administrators have a great deal of influence over technology decisions within the FSF, and do crucial work empowering thousands of others to develop free software.

With our small staff of twelve, each person makes a clear contribution. We work hard, but offer a humane and fun work environment.

The FSF is a mature and growing organization that provides great potential for advancement; existing staff are prioritized for any new job openings.

Example systems administration tasks include:

• Be a lead voice in the Foundation's software system decision-making
• Install and maintain fully free GNU/Linux systems on servers, desktops, laptops, and embedded devices
• Support GNU developers and FSF staff in their use of FSF-owned systems
• Monitor and improve system security and network infrastructure
• Spec and purchase new equipment
• Coordinate work of volunteer systems administrators
• Share in the on-call rotation to deal with core system emergencies
• Learn about and work with cutting-edge free technologies like Coreboot
• Blog publicly about the technologies and techniques used at the FSF; inform FSF policy positions in technical areas

Programming is occasionally required, such as:

• Fix bugs and submit patches upstream for the software used at the FSF
• Design, write, and release new software when existing software doesn't fit the bill
• Improve and maintain existing custom software

Useful specific experience includes:

• 4+ years experience as a GNU/Linux systems administrator
• 3+ years experience with at least two programming languages
• 2+ years experience with an apt-based GNU/Linux distribution
• 1+ years experience with SQL (preferably PostgreSQL or MySQL)
• Undergraduate college degree, or in lieu of degree, substantially more experience than that listed above
• A portfolio of contributions to free software projects or their development infrastructure

Expected technical skills are:

• Expert knowledge of systems administration for GNU/Linux with apt-based distributions
• In-depth understanding of key network protocols such as TCP/IP, BGP, DNS, SMTP, HTTP, FTP, NFS, DHCP, etc.
• In-depth understanding of key system components such as virtualization, automated systems management, software RAID, MTAs, etc.
• In-depth knowledge of Drupal and Nginx.
• Familiarity with at least two of Perl, PHP, Python or Ruby. High proficiency (expert preferred) in at least one of these languages
• Thorough knowledge of network and system security, especially as related to the kernel Linux and common Internet services
• Knowledge of network routing and related services in GNU/Linux, such as iptables and stateful firewalls.
• Ability to design SQL databases
• Ability to spec, purchase, assemble, and debug components for custom-build server systems

We will prefer candidates with additional skills, such as:

• In-depth knowledge of CiviCRM, Xen, Puppet, Exim, Spamassassin, Mailman, Quagga, Apache, RT, Coreboot, Squid, Zope, Plone, Semantic Mediawiki, CAS, Django, SQL Ledger
• Knowledge of version control systems: Git, Subversion, CVS, RCS
• Soldering, making your own Ethernet cable, extremely high Nethack scores

We also require:

• A willingness to learn and understand how political and philosophical positions of an organization impact computing requirements
• An ability to work as part of a team and to handle and coordinate contributions from a volunteer core
• Being open-minded and tolerant of others

Benefits and salary

The job must be worked on-site at FSF's downtown Boston offices, because it involves caring for equipment that is physically located there.

It is a union position. The salary is fixed at $61,651 and is non-negotiable. Other benefits include:

• reimbursement for some relocation expenses,
• full family health coverage through Blue Cross/Blue Shield's HMO Blue program,
• subsidized dental plan,
• four weeks of paid vacation annually,
• seventeen paid holidays annually,
• public transit commuting cost reimbursement,
• 403(b) program through TIAA-CREF,
• yearly cost-of-living pay increases, and
• potential for an annual performance bonus.

Application instructions

The position is available immediately, and we will be accepting applications until it is filled.

Applications must be submitted via email to hiring@fsf.org. The email must contain the subject line, "Senior Systems Administrator." A complete application should include:

• cover letter,
• resume,
• contact information for three references, and
• links to any published free software work.

All materials must be in a free format (such as plain text, PDF, or OpenDocument, and not Microsoft Word). Email submissions that do not follow these instructions will be overlooked. No phone calls, please.

An on-site interview will be required with the executive director and the technology team.

We are an equal opportunity employer, committed to promoting a diverse workplace, and do not discriminate based on gender, sex, race, color, religion, national origin, age, disability, marital status, or sexual orientation.

Using free "as in freedom" software, like OpenSSL, is a necessary first step in securing our computers, our servers, and the entire Internet. Free software guarantees users the ability to examine the code in order to detect vulnerabilities, and to create new and safe versions if a vulnerability is discovered. Bugs, sometimes big ones like Heartbleed affecting widely used software like OpenSSL, can occur in any code, free or proprietary. The difference is, when no one but a proprietary software company like Microsoft can see the code, or fix it when problems are discovered, it is impossible to have a true chain of trust. Everyone is helpless until Microsoft decides to act.

It's been documented that companies like Microsoft are even sharing bugs with others like the NSA without fixing them, looking the other way so that third parties can exploit the security hole. And Apple has a backdoor on the iPhone that security experts say was either caused by NSA sabotage or deliberate internal sabotage by Apple. In short, examples of proprietary software's insecurity abound.

Heartbleed is a serious security issue, and it's a good thing that OpenSSL is free software. This has allowed the bug to be identified, and fixed rapidly after being disclosed.

As for the FSF's own systems, we are upgrading them as we speak. We'd like to thank the Trisquel^‡ and Debian distributions of GNU/Linux for quickly releasing updates with fixed packages.

‡: Trisquel is an FSF-endorsed free GNU/Linux distribution.