“Apple Computer Inc. could negotiate new deals with record labels and artists to sidestep French government plans to open the copy-protection technology of its iTunes music service to rivals, under a draft Senate amendment to be voted on this week,” Laurence Frost reports for The Associated Press. “The amendment, proposed by the Senate Cultural Affairs Committee, softens the terms of a government-backed copyright bill Apple criticized as “state-sponsored piracy” after its first reading in March by lawmakers in France’s lower house.”
Frost reports, “The Senate committee’s changes could allow Apple to maintain the exclusive link between iTunes and the iPod, lawyers and officials told The Associated Press. Under the key amendment, compatibility disputes would be taken to a new regulatory authority that would have the power to order exclusive file formats be shared – but only if the obstacles they pose are ‘additional to, or independent of, those explicitly decided by the copyright holders.’ In other words, Apple and Sony could continue to refuse to share their FairPlay and ATRAC3 file formats, provided they obtain the authorization of artists and other copyright holders whose music they sell online, said Valerie Aumage, an online copyright specialist with Paris law firm Dubarry Le Douarin Veil. ‘As long as Apple can show that the restrictions conform to the wishes of copyright holders, there would be no case to answer,’ she said.”
“The draft amendment follows intensive lobbying by the Cupertino, Calif.-based computer company, which sent representatives including iTunes designer Bud Tribble to Paris last month for a series of meetings with senior lawmakers. The Brussels-based Business Software Alliance, which campaigns on behalf of major software and hardware makers including Apple, Microsoft Corp. and Hewlett Packard Co., has also warned that the draft legislation would harm the fight against piracy and undermine new technologies like high-definition DVDs,” Frost reports. “The Senate is expected to complete its reading of the copyright bill in coming days, after which the legislation passes to a joint committee of Senators and lower-house deputies, charged with hammering out a compromise text.”
More in the full article here.
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Charlie… Here’s some more for you…
ZapPow… true… maybe we should have been college students instead of a superpower. Then they would have given up for sure.
COMPLETE MILITARY HISTORY OF FRANCE
Gallic Wars – Lost. In a war whose ending foreshadows the next 2000 years of French history, France is conquered by of all things, an Italian. Hundred Years War – Mostly lost, saved at last by female schizophrenic who inadvertently creates The First Rule of French Warfare; “France’s armies are victorious only when NOT led by a Frenchman.” Italian Wars – Lost. France becomes the first and only country to ever lose two wars — when fighting Italians. Wars of Religion – France goes 0-5-4 against the Huguenots. Thirty Years War – France is technically not a participant, but manages to get invaded anyway. Claims a tie on the basis that eventually the other participants started ignoring her. War of Devolution – Tied. Frenchmen take to wearing red flower pots as chapeaux. The Dutch War – Tied. War of the Augsburg League / King William’s War / French and Indian War -Lost, but claimed as a tie. Three ties in a row induces deluded Frogophiles the world over to label the period as the height of French military power. War of the Spanish Succession – Lost. The War also gave the French their first taste of a Marlborough, which they have loved ever since. American Revolution – In a move that will become quite familiar to future Americans, France claims a win even though the English colonists saw far more action. This is later known as “de Gaulle Syndrome”, and leads to the Second Rule of French Warfare; “France only wins when America does most of the fighting.” French Revolution – Won, primarily due the fact that the opponent was also French. The Napoleonic Wars – Lost. Temporary victories (remember the First Rule!) due to leadership of a Corsican, who ended up being no match for a British footwear designer. The Franco-Prussian War – Lost. Germany first plays the role of drunk Frat boy to France’s ugly girl home alone on a Saturday night. World War I – Tied and on the way to losing, France is saved by the United States. Thousands of French women find out what it’s like to not only sleep with a winner, but one who doesn’t call her “Fraulein.” Sadly, widespread use of condoms by American forces forestalls any improvement in the French bloodline. World War II – Lost. Conquered French liberated by the United States and Britain just as they finish learning the Horst Wessel Song. War in Indochina – Lost. French forces plead sickness, take to bed with the Dien Bien Flu. Algerian Rebellion – Lost. Loss marks the first defeat of a western army by a Non-Turkic Muslim force since the Crusades, and produces the First Rule of Muslim Warfare; “We can always beat the French.” This rule is identical to the First Rules of the Italians, Russians, Germans, English, Dutch, Spanish, Vietnamese and Esquimaux. War Against Greenpeace – Lost. 1985, the Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior prepares to sail for Moruroa Atoll for a major campaign against French nuclear testing. Agents of the DGSE [secret service] bomb and sink the ship in Auckland Harbor. I tree-hugger sans tree drowns. Six weeks later agents Prieur and Mafart plead guilty to charges of manslaughter and willful damage. They get sentences of 10 years and 7 years. French Prime Minister Fabius admits to state terrorism on TV. War on Terrorism – France, keeping in mind its recent history, surrenders to Germans and Muslims just to be safe. Attempts to surrender to Vietnamese ambassador fails after he takes refuge in a McDonald’s.
Wow ! Comedians as experts in history, plus a false quote from Patton. Splendid demonstration.
ZapPow…
glad you enjoyed it
I guess they got so much negative feedback from their citizens that they are now looking for a graceful exit strategy. Don’t mock them, just feel sad.
A lion in the zoo was lying in the sun licking its rear end when a visitor turned to the zoo keeper and said, “That’s a docile old thing isn’t it?”
“No way,” said the zoo keeper, “it’s the most ferocious beast in the zoo. Why just an hour ago it dragged a Frenchman into the cage and completely devoured him.”
“Hardly seems possible” said the astonished visitor, “but why is it lying there licking its rear?”
“The poor thing is trying to get the taste out of its mouth.”
Q: What do you call a Frenchman advancing on Baghdad?
A: A salesman.
Donald Rumsfeld was being heckled by a French anti-war weenie when he suddenly turned and asked the Frenchman:
“Excuse me. Do you speak German?”
The Frenchman replied “No.”
Rumsfeld looked him in the eyes and said “You’re welcome.”
Oh, everybody can play games with history :
Which are the wars the USA waged and how did they fare?
• Revolutionary wars: hmmmm, does one needs to be reminded of how the French saved the butt of Americans.
• War of 1812 against the British. Americans lost nearly all the battles and the White House and the Capitol were even set on fire by their now faithful allies…
• Mexican-American war (1846/1847). A war of aggression on the basis of expansionism. Won against a rural country in permanent state of civil war, totally unprepared, under-armed and in near total disarray.
• Civil War (1860/1864). Internal affair… Well, one the two belligerents lost. Southerners don’t really like to be reminded that they didn’t win (as a matter of fact, they lost…)…
• Spanish-American War (1898). A four months skirmish against a country 3,500 miles afar which had no possibilities whatsoever to defend itself, was at least three times less populous, under-industrialised and extremely weak politically. Another war of aggression based on a pretence. Spaniards don’t like to be reminded that episode from the great friend they accompanied in Iraq. American warmongers are usually rather discreet on this feat of their country that permitted the Philippines to become an American colony, and turned Guam and the Mariana Islands into American territory. …
• The Philippine-American War (1899) Another example of a war fought against an opponent incommensurably weaker than America. The U.S. were already fighting an insurgency war, a war of independence. A forgotten war Americans aren’t really ready to be proud of…
• WW1. Now, this is becoming a little more serious… As everyone knows, America declared war on Germany (April 6th, 1917) not to come to the rescue of the French and the British but mainly because there was a real danger of economic crisis, with the German fleet sinking every single American ship sailing to England… Noteworthy, up to then, America maintained diplomatic relations with Germany while France and Great Britain were loosing soldiers by the hundreds of thousands… Now, not to belittle the sacrifices American soldiers made but they arrived totally unarmed, and had to be placed under the supreme command of… a French Marshall, Ferdinand Foch. French-bashers usually prefer to ignore this detail… As we know, although they contributed to the final victory of course, they didn’t do it alone… Americans certainly didn’t save the butt of the French (and the British). France lost 1.35 million men, Great Britain 900,000, and the U.S. 120,000 (60,000 of them from disease)
• WW2. This is the great pride of Americans, to the point that many of them think they saved the world single-handedly… Just like for WW1, American didn’t come to the rescue of France (and Great Britain) out of love for them, out of love for freedom or democracy or whatever but because of Pearl Harbor (Dec 7th, 1941). Until then, Washington had regular diplomatic relations with Nazi Germany. Just a reminder: Germany declared war on America, not the other way round… Russia: over 21 million dead, France 800,000, Great Britain 390,000, and the U.S. about 300.000. Of course, nobody questions the gratitude that is owed to America. But that doesn’t imply eternal obedience to Washington, whatever may happen…
• Korean War (1950/1953) Not so much an American war that a war approved by the UN with the participation of about 20 allied countries. 930,000 soldiers took part, of which a third were Americans. Stalemate…
• The Vietnam War. The least bragged about war by American war mongers… Need not develop, right? About 2 millions Vietnamese killed. Talk about genocide…
• Ever heard about Operation Eagle Claw? Hmmm, don’t mention it to the American war mongers…
• And don’t forget the intervention on the island of Grenada (1983)… A great victory… That was just 2 days after 240 GIs had been killed in Lebanon and America decided to come home… And let’s just forget about Somalia…
• The Gulf War (1991), another great victory against a country twelve times less populous, already bled to death after an 8-year long war between Iraq and Iran… By the way, the French took part to this war. Do French-bashers know?
• Afghanistan, right, what to say? A “country” stuck in the 13th century with no army at all… Is there any reason to be proud of whatever “victory” over there?
• And now the Iraq war, you know, the one which was a slam dunk, the “Mission Accomplished” after 6 weeks of fighting against a country that had next to no army left, with no navy, no aviation… “Bring ‘em on” he said… And some still think the war has been won or is on the verge to be won. How long will it take before they realize this war was lost the day America entered Iraq 3 years ago?
Q: How many Frenchman does it take to guard Paris?
A: Nobody knows, its never been tried.
And now excuse me, but I have some American-bashing to do somewhere else. Bye.
regarding ZapPow’s comments about the usa being bigger than everybody else…
“it’s not my fault that I’m the biggest and the strongest”
“And now excuse me, but I have some American-bashing to do somewhere else. Bye.”
He’s running? – hmmm.. must be french
Jim:
Wow… quoting those great American historians Jay Leno and Rush Limbaugh…. you must feel so proud.
By the way…
During the Hundred Years’ War against the British, King Charles VII, with his Compagnies d’Ordonnance cavalry units, created the first standing army in the Western world since Roman times. The victories at the battles of Formigny and Castillon, pretty much ended the war then and there. By 1453 Calais was the only English possession in mainland France.
The French also inflicted a major defeat on the British during the American War of Independence at the Battle of the Chesapeake, thus ensuring a victory the Americans couldn’t have hoped to achieve at the siege of Yorktown.
In 1797 the French defeated the ‘First Coalition’ [Spain, Britain, Prussia, Netherlands and Austria], occupied Belgium, Holland, Denmark, the west bank of the Rhine in Germany, and Northern Italy. Unsatisfied with the results, many of these European powers formed a ‘Second Coalition’, but by 1801 the French had beaten that too!
By the beginning of 1914, France had a military empire stretching over 10,000,000 km² (over 4,000,000 sq. miles) of land. Following victory in WW I – remember, they defeated the Germans [hence the signing of the armistice in the Forest of Compiegne], part of Cameroon was also added to French possessions. Then Syria and Lebanon became French mandates and of course, Tunisia, Algeria, Chad, Madagascar, Djibouti, Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia became French colonies. From 1870 to 1945, France was territorially the third largest nation on Earth, after Britain and Russia.
Enough for you? There’s more, but that involves reading… and well, for some posters on here history means only being able to quote the winners in the “World” Series.
Ha!
Ron is quite wrong about the French beans and runner beans in the UK.
In England, French beans and runner beans are quite different and have had their respective names since long before either of the world wars and the names remain unaltered.
French beans grow to knee height or climbing varieties grow to the height of a man and the bean pods are round in section and about 10cm long and 6mm across.
Runner beans grow to a height of 2 metres or more and the bean pods are often more than 30cm long and very flat, being typically 8mm wide and 20 mm deep. The beans within the pods are very large, unlike French beans which are small.
Three guys, an Englishman, a Frenchman and an American are out walking along the beach together one day. They come across a lantern and a genie pops out of it. “I will give you each one wish, ” says the genie.
The American says, “I am a farmer, my dad was a farmer, and my son will also farm. I want the land to be forever fertile in America.” With a blink of the genie’s eye, ‘FOOM’ – the land in America was forever made fertile for farming.
The Frenchman was amazed, so he said, “I want a wall around France, so that no one can come into our precious country.” Again, with a blink of the Genie’s eye, ‘POOF’ – there was a huge wall around France.
The Englishman asks, “I’m very curious. Please tell me more about this wall.
The Genie explains, “Well, it’s about 150 feet high, 50 feet thick and nothing can get in or out.”
The Englishman says, “Fill it up with water.”
Charlie…
“Wow… quoting those great American historians Jay Leno and Rush Limbaugh…. you must feel so proud.”
uh…. if you remember… in one of your earlier missives you used humor and sarcasim, so I did also. Is this too much for you to understand or should I use smaller words?
Charlie
In your first post you wrote.
“Stick to the story.” – well ok. Here ya go.
Apple won, and france…..
SURRENDERED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Jim’s right, They always have, always will.
The funny thing is that France didn’t even surrender to a country this time, or even their own rioting college students. They surrendered to a company.
I wonder if this means Apple will have to occupy paris?
Ummm, “ZapPow” . . .
“Revolutionary wars: hmmmm, does one needs to be reminded of how the French saved the butt of Americans.”
First of all , it was the Revolutionary War, not plural. Second, I don’t think I’ve seen such a broad and inaccurate generalization in a long, long time.
“WW2. This is the great pride of Americans, to the point that many of them think they saved the world single-handedly… Just like for WW1, American didn’t come to the rescue of France (and Great Britain) out of love for them, out of love for freedom or democracy or whatever but because of Pearl Harbor (Dec 7th, 1941). Until then, Washington had regular diplomatic relations with Nazi Germany. Just a reminder: Germany declared war on America, not the other way round… Russia: over 21 million dead, France 800,000, Great Britain 390,000, and the U.S. about 300.000. Of course, nobody questions the gratitude that is owed to America. But that doesn’t imply eternal obedience to Washington, whatever may happen…”
This “summation” conveniently overlooks the fact that, at the very least, without the contributions of the American industrial complex in support of the war effort there wouldn’t have been enough of anything to eat, sleep, sh-t, fly, sail, move, resupply, or fight with. To say nothing, of course, of the invaluable American military leadership and tactics brought to bear in service to defeating the axis.
The fact that the French never even put up a fight, however, is intractable.
Occupy Paris? Do you mean Paris Hilton?
I’ve seen her video. I know what it takes to occupy her.
Big Al…
yer killin me man, I seriously did a spit take on that post.
Charlie’s uncle. You are technically correct, but I know what we (uneducated English peasants) called them. French beans were changed to runner beans because the French ran away from the Jerries. So there!
ron
Alan’s Audio was questioning the verasity of your report, not me.
Besides, anything my cousins accross the pond say against the French is fine by me. It’s a family thing mate!
Remember Dunkerque, ron ? My my my, did you English peasants run. You taught the French a lesson.
willie the conq was maybe part french but most definitely a Norsman (Viking from Norway) that the french persuaded to invade E. with the promise of great spoils of war.
now why did the french want willie to do that? its quite simple the french wanted Normandy back from the Norsmen.