“The French take pride in their revolutions, which are usually hard to miss — mass uprisings, heads rolling and such. So, with the scent of tear gas in the air this past month from the giant protests against a youth labor law, it was easy to overlook the French National Assembly’s approval of a bill that would require Apple Computer to crack open the software codes of its iTunes music store and let the files work on players other than the iPod,” Austan Goolsbee writes for The New York Times. “While seemingly minor, the move is actually rather startling and has left many experts wondering (as ever): What has possessed the French?”
“In their fervor to free listeners from the shackles of their iPods, French politicians have abandoned one of the guiding principles of antitrust economics: penalize companies that harm consumers, not the ones that succeed by building better products,” Goolsbee writes. “Antitrust authorities normally follow well-established procedures when considering such moves. They weigh the loss to consumers of not being able to play iTunes songs on other players against the damage that forcing iTunes to open might have on innovation. France’s own Competition Council did a similar analysis in 2004 and ruled that Apple’s refusal to share the iTunes codes did not harm consumers. The legislature paid no mind to such analysis and seems not to have considered innovation at all. Therein lies the danger.”
“iTunes keeps getting better. Apple has added video capability, celebrity play lists, exclusive music, the ability to convert home movies into iPod format, and many other features — all free,” Goolsbee writes. “If the French gave away the codes, Apple would lose much of its rationale for improving iTunes. Right now, after the royalty payment to the label (around 65 cents) and the processing fee to the credit card company (as high as 23 cents), not to mention other costs, Apple’s margin on 99-cent music is thin. Yet it continues to add free features to iTunes because it helps sell iPods. Opening the codes threatens that link. Apple would need to pay for iTunes features with profits from iTunes itself. Prices would rise. Innovation would slow.”
“Usually, rich countries don’t meddle with others’ intellectual property because they fear retaliation. So why don’t the French fear retaliation now? One reason may be that they have concluded France will never really compete. If the Internet will always have an American accent, why not go after it? Sometimes, the red flag of revolution is surprisingly hard to distinguish from the white flag of surrender,” Goolsbee writes. “The fate of France’s budding intellectual property revolution now rests with the French Senate, which will decide in the coming days whether to proceed. Before declaring pre-emptive war on iTunes, however, perhaps the French would do best to remember a lesson from 1789. Sometimes the very people calling for revolution are the ones who end up losing their heads.”
Full article with much more and highly recommended here.
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Related articles:
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
>> if it’s not an american invention, then who invented it?
I guess you need to define what you mean by “The Internet”. The physical concept of an IP network was a DARPA invention (the US). The idea of the web – hyperlinked pages – was invented by a Brit in Switzerland. No doubt other technologies have been invented by other nationalities. Probably best to think of it as a collaborative effort by the world. It’s too big and complex to be the brainchild of a single nation.
“France also tried opertunistically to avoid helping the US in the Iraq war, then wanted to get billions of dollars in US tax dollar paid contracts to rebuild Iraq – and complained mightily when the US wanted to allow the contracts to go to countries that supported the war.”
You are aware that war profiteering is wrong?
You are also aware that the French were 100% right about Iraq while your government was 100% wrong, right?
As for the law, it is ridiculous. Politicians are notorious for crafting laws with very little knowledge of its implications. In the US, the new bankruptcy bill is a similar mess and is very bad for the American people.
Comment:
From: Canadian
Apr 27, 06 – 01:55 pm
“The INTERNET was NOT an American Invention.”
actually, it was.
The Internet is built on what was DARPANet. This network was developed and funded by the US Military.
magic word: Together… can’t we all play together?
True, the internet was built on a US army network, and never really kicked off to the public, until the WorldWideWeb was invented by Tim Berners-Lee, a British guy.
Rule Brittania, and happy birthday to the queen!
it seems that microshit has bought the french govt, probably with promises of free copies of Vista. always had visions of the french as petite, petty, snivelling toadstools. now they can claim the position of being MS asswipes
can’t we all play together?
Not when some keep shitting in the sandbox!
I ‘m not french nor am I american – could someone please explain why it is that americans seem to hate the french culture and people so much?
Are they jealous about their long history? Americans are not really known for their superior intellect, education etc. but still, I doubt that the average american is pissed about the french denial regarding that embarrassing oilwar…or was it terror? Whatever. Thanks for any honest answer.
YES!
YOU ALL ARE RIGHT… FRANCE SUCKS, WE ARE BIGOTS, AND ITS ALWAYS A MICROSOFT CONSPIRACY… DAMN YOU BILL GATES…. DAMN YOU …..cough
The French was already at way with the Brits and needed a second front (the colonies) to draw off British forces and get a foolhold in the Americas on the process. If we were fighting Spain who the French were not at war with at the time, we wouldn’t have seen of heard form them at all. They were opportunists then, and they still are. Fuck the French and the mudhole they live in
The French did help the US during the Revolutionary War, but remember why. They didn’t give a rat’s ass for the podunk American colonies; they did what they did because Great Britain was their mortal enemy and was the preeminent world power at the time. Of course, Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson were in France seriously lobbying the French for support, but the French saw an opportunity to get back at Great Britain and they took it. The British and the French were directly fighting each other less than 20 years later.
It is nothing more than supporting rag-tag bands of revolutionaries to spit in the face of your enemy. Just three of many examples were Chinese “aiding” North Korea against the US in the Korean War, and more recently, the US supplying most of Saddam’s military hardware for Iraq’s war against Iran in the 1980’s, and our supplying arms to the Afganis during the Russian invasion of Afganistan. My point is that now, as then, it’s all about self interest.
The internet was an american invention – the WWW (as every self-respecting geek should know
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”grin” style=”border:0;” /> was invented at the CERN, near Geneva. And as the CERN is a french/swiss scientific cooperation project, France could even say that it has invented the WWW…
btw, it’s incredible, how primitively some yankees behave on this board!
Some words just as a povocation for the arrogant bastards here: Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib, Bushs popularity,… *g*
PS: Without Rousseau, Voltaire and other great french thinkers, the US would never have reached (a kind of) enlightenment age.
PPS: I’m not french, but civilized nonetheless
“Some words just as a povocation for the arrogant bastards here: Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib”
it wasn’t enough
“PPS: I’m not french, but civilized nonetheless”
civilized people hide behing words and let other people do the dieing
Sometimes you people amaze me with your blind following if Apple. DRM is, and always has been bad for consumers, even if it comes from the almighty-Apple.
I can’t WAIT for this to in effect all over the EU. Consumers deserve choice. If Apple is so great, wont consumers continue to choose iPod+iTunes? What are you all so worried about?
Just shut up with all this arrogant French bashing and Apple following.
” The idea of the web – hyperlinked pages – was invented by a Brit in Switzerland. No doubt other technologies have been invented by other nationalities.”
Yes. A brit wrote HTML and I thank him very much for it, but the IP network that was DARPANET and spread to UCLA, UCSB, Stanford and Berkeley as a research project and then the rest of the world was an American invention. As are email, unix, microprocessors, RAM, and computers themsevles. HTML is great but it doesn’t count as a inventing the internet. Beside we all know Al Gore invented the internet.
And people should stop bringing up the American Revolution as proof that the French are corageous benevolent people. Just twenty years before they had tried to take over the british colonies that would later become america. The King couldn’t take them by himself and even if he did he wouldn’t be able to defend them from Britain. Then the american revolution started and he figured if he couldn’t have it, he could at least make sure Britain didn’t have it. It was a terrible idea since the idealism of America convinced his people to try a similar thing and he ended up losing. The French didn’t help us because the people wanted to spread democracy, at the time they were still a monarchy. They helped us because it was the best thing for them. Is that a bad thing? no. I don’t dislike the French, but they don’t get 250 years of brownie points for it.
Common guys, how come no-one’s mentioned a Brit called Tim???
This is Wiki: Sir Timothy “Tim” John Berners-Lee, KBE, FRS (TimBL or TBL) (born June 8, 1955 in London) is the inventor of the World Wide Web and director of the World Wide Web Consortium, which oversees its continued development.
So, it is British, but more correctly: Anglo-Saxon!
And on topic, the current French administration couldn’t run a banana republic.. let alone the great French Republic.
Does anyone think a boycott is in order?
Viva La Resistance!!! Viva La Resistance!!!
You left out Bill Gates
I’m not American but your ridiculous, provocative post pisses me off and you deserve a month with the Taliban, as it may teach you something.
The funny thing is, that you stupid American’s don’t seem to understand that most scientist people come from all over the world except from USA, because you are just to stupid.
Most inventions are made by Europeans, that’s it, even if it’s made on USA ground, it’s made by Europeans. Europe is a cultural and historical creator of the modern world, and for all kind of reasons financial and political smart people go into the demands of the brain drain to the USA.
USA are just a bunch of foreign people living togheter, you killed and murdered out the original aboriginals and took their land, lied to them, and cheated them, be proud about that, you ‘americanos’.. be ashame what you did to the native americans, if there was a god, he would punish you all.
“So why don’t the French fear retaliation now?”
Isn’t it clear? They have nothing to lose. This is very similar to when they handed Paris over to Germany. The French defend not even their own freedom. Perhaps we just need to stop considering them a country.
Apple needs to pull iTunes out of France if it so damaging to the French citizens.
I fully understand that what I’ve got to say won’t matter to anyone, but I’m close to deciding to no longer post, or even visit, this site. It has gotten far too politial, and what’s worse, far too virulent for me.
truth-
Whay to stoop to their level, buddy.
Haha, you know it took 5 years before you came over to Europe to liberate us, and you did it for 1 reason, economics, the Marshall plan, we all payed you back, it was only to save your sorry economic ass 60 years ago. In fact, it was the Brittish and Canada people who fighted the most in WWII, the Americans have a bigger mouth tough..
The solution to this is simple.
Get a large (50′ x 50′) iTMS banner and hang it on the swide of a building.
Give 50 french citizens a rifle. Tell them that if one of them can put a hole in the sign, then they win.
Of course, the sign has no reason to fear from its life.
The french haven’t picked up a rifle in what – 100 years?
=)