“It didn’t take long for the new French DRM legislation to get spoiled in committee, and you can’t blame French consumers for expecting canard à l’orange and being served some very dodgy escargot instead,” Nate Anderson reports for Ars Technica. “No one was surprised when the proposed French law was trashed by Apple as ‘state-sponsored piracy.’ There was even speculation that Apple might leave France altogether rather than risk opening its Fairplay system. It looks like the French will still get to keep their iTunes Music Store, though, since the original bill was recently gutted in committee. Most of the consumer-friendly provisions in the legislation have since been removed or rewritten.”
“The new changes will be voted on soon, but they already have some French consumer groups up in arms. As anyone who has ever relied on RATP to get to work knows, the French are very, very gifted in the art of the strike, and stopdrm.info has called for one in the Place de la Bastille on May 7. Will anyone show up? Perhaps. 22 percent of under-25 workers are unemployed, and they’re willing to take to the streets. If they’re as concerned about DRM as about having jobs for life, the rally could be huge,” Anderson reports.
More details in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Too Hot!” for the heads up.]
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Related articles:
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
Actually, I think the Tom Cruise quotes are quite funny.
Now, a handle like “blucaso?” THAT’S tired.
Lovin’ the Tom Cruise quotes.
Ditto on the Tom Cruise quotes. I giggle every time.
Oh my. I’ve got herpes on my mouth again. If I’d only known getting involved in this Scientology thing would require me to eat Tom’s a**, I would have tried Jehovah’s Witnessism instead.
All the new Ads are on the Quicktie website. Check them out now…
ABC totally screws iTMS, all ABC shows on website for free.
http://abc.go.com/fsp/index.html?lid=ABCCOMMenu&lpos=VideoPlayer
Reality Check –
haven’t seen the ad – where is it?
Ads on Apple.com now
http://www.apple.com/
Never mind – Apple.com…
Got it –
yuk yuk yuk
France poots in it’s own general direction.
Ahh some good info finally
http://www.apple.com/getamac/works.html
I’m glad to see that in this ever changing world, there is one thing that doesn’t change : whatever the French do, an American will explain you how it is bad, and to whom they are surrendering. The law is voted ? The French surrendered to the music labels, or to the consumer, or to communists. The law doesn’t pass ? The French surrendered to Apple.
It is, anyway, really strange to see people rejoicing because “consumer friendly provisions have been removed…”
When some schmuck tries to tell you their proposal is consumer-friendly, reach for your wallet to see if it’s still there.
Kate
P.S. That goes double if he admits he’s a Naderite.
Government prohibition of benign technology is defeated. Now the French can work on the real important social issues like improving the quality of wine and cheese, developing more medicinal suppositories, organizing more Jerry Lewis film festivals, and increasing taxation of citizens.
Hey baseball fans!
It’s the bottom of the ninth inning, Apple’s in the outfield, and there are two outs with no one on base. Steve is pitching and is about to do another “Job” on the batter, Paul Somebody from London. Previously at bat for the Music Mad Hatters were The Music Companies and The French Legislature, who collectively earned the two outs for their team. “The Steve” as he is called by his adoring fans and teammates is best known for throwing his “Reality Distortion Field” fastball. The batter can’t see it coming and by the time they swing, the ball is already WAY past them and it’s too late for them to catch up. Even if the batter were to get a lucky hit that didn’t go foul, Apple’s ability to innovate from way out on the fringes of the field always gets the ball to first base before their runner can clear the bureaucratic and unCreative calls by their coaches to make a straight line to first base. A reminder for those of you just tuning in, the score is Apple – 1 Billion home runs and The Music Mad Hatters – nothing, but the visting team does get to go home with a hefty portion of the gate receipts as a consolation prize.
Welcome to the Diamond Apple Built
“…consumers should have the same ground of fair use with digital files that they have with CDs, tapes, and vinyl.”
This is entirely unrealistic. Why? Because you can’t push a button and distribute a vinyl record to millions worldwide. That’s why only digital music has DRM.
Honestly, I have never once bumped up against Apple’s rights management.
Either way, Apple would have won. The way this turned out, Apple won because the French lawmakers backed down. But if they hadn’t, Apple would have sold more iPods than ever, as the essentially DRM-less French “consumers” welcomed state-sponsored music piracy. Apple profits by selling iPods, not selling DRM’ed songs on iTMS.
If the French “take to the streets” to protest DRM for digital music, I think they are totally pathetic. Surely, they have something better to do…
Al Jazzoo is an anagram for “A Jazz Loo” or “A urinal in a Jazz club”. Coincidence, I think not.
Bah. France still sucks…BUT the new Apple commercials are very good.
But the froggies make wonderful cars (eg Peugeot 406 HDi – more than 1100 km on about 60 litres), brilliant handling and a car that cruises all day perfectly
“Is anyone besides me really sick of the Tom Cruise repetitive quotes? I mean, it wasn’t funny the first time. Now it’s really really really really tired.
Actually, I enjoy each and every one of them. Funny as hell.