MIT dropped its subscription to the database of past articles from the Society of Automotive Engineer because SAE had was using anti-copying DRM technology on the papers that made them less useful for scientists and researchers. After a presentation from an MIT professor about the boycott, the SAE publication board eliminated DRM for its papers:
Professor of Mechanical Engineering and SAE fellow Wai Cheng presented MIT's concerns at the SAE's Publication Board meeting in April 2007, which resulted in an immediate stay of DRM implementation on university campuses, and ultimately (November 2007) in a changed policy: FileOpen would not be required for university access to the SAE Digital Library.
While the MIT Libraries have not been able to get all the assurances we would like regarding SAE's plans for implementing other DRM tools in the future, after consulting with faculty we have decided, as Professor Cheng put it, to "work with SAE in good faith," reentering what we hope will be a productive partnership.
(Tanks, David!
