The Free Software Foundation and the activist group it sponsors, Defective By Design, do some great things. Their lobbying efforts have extinguished DRM in 3 of the 4 major music labels and sparked a national awareness for technology that places intentional limits on users.

Now they’re taking on software patents.

First of all, you should have a keen awareness through reading this blog that I strongly believe in Free Software and I’m completely against software patents. They’ve been allowed in the U.S. for some time now and it’s hurt innovation a lot. The campaigns against it in the EU seem to have been effective at preventing them over there. That’s a good thing.

The bad thing is that once an issue like this digs its roots into our system, it is going to be difficult to get out. Microsoft and all the other big guns are still fighting aggressively for software patents over in the EU - and so far they’ve lost. But they’re already on winning territory in the U.S., and with the current state of our government (in a word, a conservative in the Oval Office) that’s not likely to change at least until the election’s over. (I’m primarily Republican, btw, but am looking at this particular election with an open mind.) I would be very happy if software patents were abolished in the United States, but what I’m saying is, it ain’t gonna happen. The number one thing that humans tend to resist is change. And when it comes to some members of Congress, it’s not about what you believe is right, but about who’s backing the movement. Money speaks volumes, and the Free Software Foundation probably doesn’t have the monetary worth of Microsoft or IBM.

A couple of weeks ago I bought a pair of Skullcandy Smokin’ Buds because a friend recommended them to me. They’re brilliant - they block out nearly all sound but their own, the bass is ear-pounding, and treble is crystal-clear. That and the wire is white! Best $13.83 I’ve spent in my life.

Of course everything has a drawback. For these it’s the irresistable to exploit every possible shape for the silicone buds, which are of course removable so that people with small ears will be just as comfortable as those with larger ears. They make a great mini-stress reliever, but they also have a tendency to jump out of your fingers. It just kills you, because they jump everywhere due to their rubbery nature. This particular bud jumped two and a half feet under my desk, past my power strip (6 inches wide), and over the small metal ball (ballast) on the power cord for the florescent light over my workbench. I spent the next 20 minutes hunting for it with a flashlight. That minor weakness aside, I positively love these things.

While I’m here I think I’ll also take some time to talk about Apple’s cease-and-desist notice to the Hymn Project. First of all I’ve never bought a single track from iTunes, nor do I intend to. I own an iPod only because someone gave it to me. (I plan to upgrade to an iPod touch because ssh root@ipod would be so cool. Any bids for a silver 2GB second gen Nano?) I used myFairTunes7 to decrypt some music for a friend that wanted me to rescue her dying laptop, which later became pelswick.fuhry.local. It was a brilliant tool, and though it crashed a lot, I was glad to see that it worked and it saved some of her music. She later discovered that her new laptop was authorized for the same account so I just gave her the encrypted tracks. That being my only experience with mFT, I can say that it was very good about staying within the law (perhaps not U.S. law, it’s a fine line with the DMCA and all) and discouraging piracy.

A lot of people, myself included, believe that Steve Jobs’s open letter to the music community was sincere. If that’s true, then there is no way that Apple sent that notice without pressure. Rather, I have reason to believe that the record labels are holding a knife to Apple’s throat demanding that they send cease-and-desist warnings to the Hymn Project. The record labels are just trying to avoid getting their hands dirt by going through Apple.

(A quick note, I also commented on Slashdot with the same argument.)