---
title: History of Control
osem_url: https://osem.seagl.org/conferences/seagl2017/program/proposals/343
beginning: '2017-10-06T14:00:00.000-07:00'
end: '2017-10-06T14:50:00.000-07:00'
presenters:
- name: Donald R. Robertson
  affiliation: Free Software Foundation
  osem_url: https://osem.seagl.org/users/80
  gravatar_id: 2f133afffafed026cc953d68abf8d91d
  biography: Donald Robertson, III, J.D. is the Copyright and Licensing Associate
    for the Free Software Foundation. He has worked for the FSF for over seven years
    in the FSF's Licensing & Compliance Lab, and has been involved in free software
    for over fifteen years. <https://www.fsf.org/about/staff-and-board>
---

### Abstract

The talk will give an overview of the history of Digital Restrictions Management (DRM), from codes and passwords for ancient video games to remote attestation spyware and beyond. It will provide the listener with a perspective on the true purpose of DRM, which throughout its history has always been control over the user. While nominally DRM has something to do with copyright, in each step throughout its story we find again and again that domination of the user is its only 'success' and ultimate goal. This fact becomes glaringly obvious as we move to the era of DRM enforcement of laws, where governments try to control citizens by rewriting digital reality. The talk will conclude with what we are doing at the FSF to fight back, and what you can do to help.


### Donald Robertson, III, Licensing & Compliance Manager

Donald is an attorney, and speaks on free software legal issues and activism. He handles licensing education & GPL compliance at the FSF. He resides in the Pacific Northwest. Previous speaking engagements:

* Respecting Freedom: Free software license compliance for hardware devices, at LinuxfestNW 2017 <https://www.linuxfestnorthwest.org/2017/sessions/respecting-freedom-free-software-license-compliance-hardware-devices>
* FSF: Volunteer Empire, Seagl 2016
* From TPP to saving WiFi, the FSF fights for you, at LinuxfestNW 2016 <https://www.linuxfestnorthwest.org/2016/sessions/tpp-saving-wifi-fsf-fights-you>
* Trading Freedom: The Threat of International "Trade" Agreements Like TPP, TTIP, and TISA, at SeaGL 2015 <https://seagl.org/schedule/2015>
* The Free Software Foundation Licensing & Compliance Lab; We Fight for the User, at LinuxFest Northwest 2015 <https://linuxfestnorthwest.org/2015/sessions/free-software-foundation-licensing-compliance-lab-we-fight-user>
* From Creation to Compliance: A Free Software Legal Primer at, Linuxfest Northwest 2014 <https://linuxfestnorthwest.org/2014/sessions/creation-compliance-free-software-legal-primer>
* Seminar on GPL Enforcement and Legal Ethics 2014 <https://www.fsf.org/events/seminar-on-gpl-enforcement-and-legal-ethics>
* Software License Compliance Audits: Establishing Audit Protocol in the Agreement and in Practice at ACI:Software Agreements - Cloud, SaaS, Open Source & Licensing 2013 <https://www.americanconference.com/softwarelic/agenda>
* Licensing & compliance: a collective effort, at Libreplanet 2013 <https://libreplanet.org/wiki/LibrePlanet:Conference/2013/Sessions>
