“Apple’s digital rights management lock on its iPod device and iTunes software is illegal, the Consumer Ombudsman in Norway has ruled. The blow follows the news that consumer groups in Germany and France are joining Norway’s action against Apple,” OUT-LAW News reports.
“The Norwegian Consumer Council, Forbrukerradet, lodged a complaint with the Ombudsman on behalf of Norwegian consumers claiming that the Fairplay DRM system acted against the interests of consumers. It said that the fact that the technology stopped songs bought from iTunes being played on any player other than an iPod broke the law in Norway,” OUT-LAW News reports. “The Ombudsman has now agreed, according to Torgeir Waterhouse, senior advisor at the Consumer Council.”
“‘It doesn’t get any clearer than this. Fairplay is an illegal lock-in technology whose main purpose is to lock the consumers to the total package provided by Apple by blocking interoperability,’ Waterhouse told OUT-LAW.COM. ‘For all practical purposes this means that iTunes Music Store is trying to kill off one the most important building blocks in a well functioning digital society, interoperability, in order to boost its own profits,'” OUT-LAW News reports.
OUT-LAW News reports, “The Consumer Council believes that Apple has only three options: it can license Fairplay to any manufacturer that wants iTunes songs to play on its machines; it can co-develop an open standard with other companies; or it can abandon DRM altogether.”
Full article here.
Cool! That means every company’s DRM is illegal and now Microsoft has to make their DRM Mac-compatible in Norway, right? By the way, Apple’s FairPlay DRM works with iPods, but also with Macs and Windows PCs and certain Motorola phones: No iPod required. The Norwegian Consumer Council forgot Apple’s fourth, and best, option for now: Pull iTunes Store from Norway until the Ombudsman gets his head on straight. No doubt Apple can weather the massive loss of iTunes Store Norway revenue for, oh, EVER. For the record, we do wish the music labels would give up on DRM altogether which would just about solve everything.
Related articles:
Major music labels ponder DRM-free future – January 23, 2007
European consumer groups unite to pressure Apple for iTunes Store ‘interoperability’ – January 22, 2007
Norway not satisfied with Apple concessions – August 02, 2006
Norwegian council reviews Apple response to Nordic iTunes complaints – August 01, 2006
Can Scandinavians really force Apple to change iTunes Store terms? – June 16, 2006
Scandinavian triumvirate extends deadline to August 1 for Apple to reply to iTunes concerns – June 14, 2006
Norway gives Apple until June 21 to change iTunes Music Store terms – June 12, 2006
Norway: iTMS DRM under scrutiny, Microsoft DRM next – June 09, 2006
Consumer Council of Norway files a complaint regarding Apple iTunes Music Store’s terms of service – January 27, 2006
Gutted French ‘iTunes law’ ends up solving nothing – August 01, 2006
French anti-iTunes law deemed unconstitutional – July 31, 2006
Parts of French ‘iPod Law’ struck down as unconstitutional – July 28, 2006
French lawmakers give final approval to watered-down ‘iTunes law’ – June 30, 2006
Apple awaits final approval of French DRM Legislation – June 23, 2006
French lawmakers agree to water down DRM bill that would affect Apple’s iTunes – June 21, 2006
It’s no wonder EMI is supporting Apple in France – May 23, 2006
EMI backs Apple on French DRM law – May 23, 2006
BusinessWeek: still very possible that Apple will close iTunes Music Store in France – May 12, 2006
French copyright bill approved: Apple will not have to share FairPlay DRM details with competitors – May 11, 2006
French Senate vote could offer loophole for Apple’s iTunes – May 09, 2006
Vive l’iTunes! French ‘state-sponsored piracy’ DRM law gutted in committee – May 01, 2006
Force open Apple’s FairPlay? What has possessed the French this time? – April 27, 2006
French Trade Minister: Apple’s iTunes must play fair in French music market – April 14, 2006
JP Morgan: French DRM law will have limited impact on Apple Computer – March 28, 2006
Dvorak: What the French got right with proposed DRM law – March 28, 2006
Will Apple’s Steve Jobs bid France adieu? – March 22, 2006
Wired’s Kahney: Proposed French copyright protection law a good thing for consumers in the long run – March 22, 2006
Apple calls proposed French DRM law ‘state-sponsored piracy,’ predicts iPod sales increase – March 21, 2006
French National Assembly approves digital copyright bill; could affect Apple’s FairPlay DRM – March 21, 2006
Why are these guys complaining about Apple??? Apple has had no choice buy to offer songs with DRM. Why don’t they complain to the record companies??? They are the cause of all DRM…
Apple does not force anyone to do anything – You have choices, Apple just provides an easy way to get and listen to music. You can buy your music from other places and use any number of jukebox software titles and put on what ever player you want. People just can’t accept that Apple fixed the problem and everyone else wants to tag along for free. Get a life Norway…
Why has this only been an issue in European countries?
Is the iTS some teat necessary for Norwegian life? Can’t they fjord a few CDs?
There must be more to this story. And it’s probably ugly and reeks of corruption.
Found that on a different forum:
“If you legally acquire music, you need to have the right to manage it on all other devices that you own.”
– Steve Jobs
Here’s my problem with this: If Apple creates a product and then Apple offers a service for that product, why in the world are they obliged to make sure their service works for other companies products? If someone can answer that with a reasonable rational answer I’d consider it.
Socialism works really well. Just ask the French or the Nazis.
I’m afraid I don’t quite get why the Norwegians care. If you don’t like an iPod, don’t buy one. If you don’t want to use iTunes, don’t. You can buy a CD or go to eMusic or Rhapsody. There are plenty of choices. Apple isn’t playing dirty pool like Microsoft did, so there’s no comparison.
Stupid meddling bureaucrats. Why don’t you go deal with real problems, like the Islamization of your country?
I guess Microsoft will have to release a Mac version of Windows Media Player that allows DRM-WMA files to be played on a Mac, because WMA files can only play on Windows PCs.
I think this process is important for the legal system. As it is now most in the system don’t have a clue when it comes to technology issues.
I wonder if Apple pulled the Norwegian iTunes store but (perhaps quietly) allowed folks from Norway to purchase tracks from iTunes through another store, say in the UK, if they would get around this problem. If the iTunes store is legal in the UK and a Norwegian national chooses to purchase a track from that store, shouldn’t that be OK?
This kind of behaviour from overseas never ceases to baffle me, espicially coming from a country that has posters on these very sites [MDN, et.al.] that gripe and moan about how there is no content available to them that is available in the U.S.A. Do the people of Sweden have any say at all in what their government mandates?
Thank God for Norwegian ombudsmen, protecting citizen against the ravages of DRM. What other DRMs are banned in Oslo?
Apple HAS a fourth option. just say, so long, its been good to know ya, and shut down their “illegal” itunes store in Norway.
and I am sure they will not let the door hit them on the behind on thir way out…
I depends how you look at the case. If iTS is seen as a service for iPod users then I think Apple should have rights to do what they want.
But if iTS is seen like a music store then products bought from there should be playable on other devices. Just like CD can be played on Mac, Windows, Linux and others. What about if you buy a CD which has copy protection in it and you cannot play that on Mac? Would you complain?
It just happens that iPod is the best player and iTS sells a lot of music at the moment. There always have to be someone to blame.
I agree Apple should just shutdown the store in Norway,Sweden,france and Germany. Let’s see how much music they get from the other vendors.
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Let the pirating begin!!!
“What about if you buy a CD which has copy protection in it and you cannot play that on Mac? Would you complain?”
You mean like the Windows-only Netflix streaming service?
The Windows-only interactive features on DVDs?
The Windows-only music services?
The Windows IE-only website services?
The Windows-only Sony rootkit? Oh, wait. Forget that one.
Truth Decay,
You go boy!
Fifth option. Keep iTunes in Norway, letting user see what is there, hear the 30 seconds sample, search, all the rest. Even movies for jobs’ sake BUT, teh buy button is greyed out and hovering on it will point to the Ombudsman pending action of having declared iTunes illegal.
I wonder how much noise that would create, especially if the same is done in France, Sweden and Germany. How many days before people will beg Apple to resume selling tracks again?
Start burning Norwegian flags in protest – no wait the islamists have already done that – how bout some cartoons depicting the norwegian ombudsman protecting cartoonists from islamist outrage – no wait he didn’t speak up. I know! I’m going to boycott Norwegian products like?….like?….salted cod lips?… pine tree gum?…reindeer poop?
… and yes, I see iTunes as THE store for iPod users. Not the store for MP3s out there. You buy an iPod and you get iTunes for your iPod.
This is where socialism leads. These crypto Marxists can’t think a logical thought.
But then it will not matter. In one more generation the ombudsman will say, “Durka, durka, …, jihad, jihad, jihad … .”
This sounds vaguely familiar…
“Why should Apple be the only one permitted to make an mp3 player for iTunes?”
“Why should Hank Rearden be the only one permitted to make Rearden Metal?”
The RIAA is preventing interoperability. Period.
Internet radio is free. I no longer buy music.
As far as I know, Apple is the only vendor doing DRM that specifically allows a legitimate method of removing DRM from your purchased music – just burn it to an audio CD and then do anything you want with it. What other vendor allows that? None!
Stupid Ombudsman…
It´s just soooo typical american. Now I understand why Bush got elected.
Grrr.. lets blow up something… Grrr
As a musician, I can tell you that there must be some way to keep music and other intellectual property protected and the ability to sell and profit from it exclusive to those with those rights. I don’t necessarily know how, but I do know that iTunes has succeeded in two respects: 1)Single-handedly proving to the studios that legal, purchased downloaded music can compete with free music (something that seems almost to defy logic), and 2)They provide easily the most flexible DRAM, with 5 machines allowed, and only the handheld being restricted to an apple product. Yes, there are a lot of them, so it does seem exclusive. But the alternative is to return all distribution and promotional control back to studios, whose methods, believe me, are far less ethical, both towards artists and consumers. I do see a future, however, where other handhelds may pay to license the DRAM code, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Apple is aware of this as an inevitability and is simply riding this until they have to, yet comfortably before they may face real litigation. Opening those five machines to include other players I don’t think would be an iPod killer. It isn’t just another MP3 player, it really is the best.