European DRM News

burgburgburg writes "Two new fronts opening in the battles over digital rights management. First: news.com is reporting how French authorities are investigating EMI France and music retailer Fnac over anticopying technology included on CDs that allegedly renders them unplayable on some systems. The investigation began after the Bureau of Competition's antifraud unit (DDCCRF) received complaints from a consumer group known as UFC-Que Choisir. Second: BusinessWeek reports that the EC is investigating Microsoft to make sure that they don't illegally dominate the field of digital rights management. Regulators have told Microsoft and its partner Time Warner that they are looking into their plan to acquire the company ContentGuard, which makes DRM software because of concerns that it will create or strengthen Microsoft dominance of the field."

Comments

Kudos to Europe

[ahsile]

For having the balls to stand up to the industry bigwigs.

Re:Kudos to Europe

[gmanic]

And that's what I like about the "old world" and I'm glad to be back here - even if some other things go terribly wrong - still better than fully-openly-industry-funded-government

Although, might not be that much better...

Re:Kudos to Europe

[Ignignot]

If you think that European governments are any less influenced by corporations than the American government you are mistaken. They're just funded by different corporations. Also, Europe's monopoly laws are slightly different, so you will have companies prosecuted in the United States that are doing perfectly legal things in Europe, and vice verca. This doesn't mean that one is less influenced by industries. It just means that they're different environments for companies.

Re:Kudos to Europe

[Blue Stone]

Stand up to industry bigwigs?

In case you've forgotten, we have the EUCD over here just as you have the DMCA overe there - the effective privatisation of copyright law (Corps now write their own rules - trying to circumvent those rules brings in the law).

Our governments are just as 0wnz0red by media corporations as America's, I'm afraid.

Re:Kudos to Europe

[William Baric]

Of course, european governments are incluences by corporations but the difference is most european people think the real ennemy is not their government but big corporations. So when their governments side to much with corporations they tend to vote the other way.

Also, it you take France for example, democracy is not a two-party system. Which means a government is in fact a coalition and that is far more difficult to buy.

Well....

[thewldisntenuff]

Article 2 is interesting....Here's a quote -

"Regulators put Microsoft and partner Time Warner on notice that it intends to investigate their plans to jointly acquire Bethesda (Md.)-based ContentGuard, which makes digital-rights-management (DRM) software to prevent music and movie piracy.

Call me crazy, but wouldn't each content company want their own DRM software? I mean, if you've got one lock, and a whole hell of a lot of people trying to open it, once it is open, you're screwed. Furthermore, content companies wouldn't want to pay a MS tax on each piece of content that is protected with MS-DRM. They'd be better off with their own DRM scheme......A monopoly in the DRM arena seems stupid at best - but am I wrong?

-thewldisntenuff

Re:Well....

[Gooba42]

Keep in mind that with DMCA-like legislation in place it's illegal to even tamper with the lock, not to mention if you break open the lock *and* steal the goodies inside.

Just fidgeting with the DRM stuff is a crime even if you're just curious and even if you're not successful.

Re:Well....

[SpecBear]

The "one lock" method has been used repeatedly by the content industry. Think Macrovision and CSS. It has the disadvantage you stated (crack one, crack 'em all) but has the advantage of providing consistency and influence over people who make content players.

If there are six big content providers each with their own system, and one of their DRM systems screws up on one the players, the manufacturer of the player will say "The DRM is screwy and we don't support it. Bitch at the content provider." If there are six big providers who all use the same system, and it doesn't work on one player, then the player is broken and it will be "fixed" to work with the DRM.

Remember, DRM isn't about stopping piracy. It's about controlling how the everyday user consumes content and allowing the content providers to build a revenue structure as they see fit without having to worry about users circumventing it through things like (time|space|format) shifting.

Re:Well....

[st1d]

Very true, but there's a gamble there as well. For instance, if MS and T-W were to come up with one system, and other groups came up with their own, there would be the temptation to break the other guy's system, to drive artists to your "better" DRM system (DMCA items aside). Especially if MS has desktop dominance and an interest in promoting one system over another, seeing as they're the only folks that know how their OS interacts with the software.

DRM is actually a beautiful catch-22 for MS. They can cash out any way you build it, because all they need to do is break/leak competing software, and competitors are screwed. (And as history shows, MS has no problem doing this when the situation calls.) So, MS builds a system, IP's it to death, and gets to call the shots on who gets to do what. Even if someone were to do the same for another OS (not that OSS folks are real big on the DRM idea), they're risking MS's ire.

So, in one smooth "righteous" move, MS automatically sweeps up the competition. Thanks to the DMCA and other fine laws, reverse engineering and so on means that no other OS users will be able to listen to music on their PCs. Then, while sales fall, those laws will get tightened even more , until using another OS is all but illegal.

It kind of reminds me of school. Someone would screw things up for everybody else, because the boneheads in charge (in this case, congress), can't see that they need to deal with the real problem (putzes that load 500 CDs onto the internet). Instead, they want to "protect" everybody, so we all have to sit back and allow our computers to be loaded down with stuff to protect us from what we MIGHT be tempted to do.

Meanwhile, the majority of people respond with, "Baaa. I just want to listen to music. Baaa!" People often can't believe that the Inquisition happened without more people standing up against it, yet we're watching it unfold right in front of her eyes. Gotta love how history repeats itself.

Region oding..

[t_allardyce]

When is someone going to investigate region coding? its anti-competative and has absolutely nothing to do with copy protection.

Re:Region oding..

[lfourrier]

http://europa.eu.int/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do? reference=SPEECH/01/275&format=HTML&aged=1&languag e=EN&guiLanguage=en
too lazy to put the correct link...

important facts:
date: 11/06/2001 (not iso, so don't know if june or november)

subject: speech from Mario Monti, European Commissioner for Competition Policy

extract: Another area where the Commission is giving direct follow-up to the concerns of individual consumers is that of Digital Video Disc pricing. We have received a significant number of complaints from private citizens on this matter. In each case, the complaint is virtually the same namely, that DVD prices are significantly higher in the EU than in the USA.

Whilst the prices of many products are higher in the EU than in the US, the major film production companies in agreement with the major equipment manufacturers have introduced a worldwide regional coding system for DVDs. Under this system, a DVD sold in one of the world's six regions cannot be played on a DVD player sold in another region. The thrust of the complaints that we have been receiving is that such a system allows the film production companies to charge higher DVD prices in the EU because EU consumers are artificially prevented from purchasing DVDs from overseas.

As a direct result of these complaints, we have initiated contacts with the major film production companies. We will examine closely what they have to say. Whilst I naturally recognise the legitimate protection which is conferred by intellectual property rights, it is important that, if the complaints are confirmed on the facts, we do not permit a system which provides greater protection than the intellectual property rights themselves, where such a system could be used as a smoke-screen to allow firms to maintain artificially high prices or to deny choice to consumers.

My services have had contacts on this issue with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, which has also sought clarifications from the major film production companies. I have noted with great interest the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission's conclusion that the regional coding system imposes a 'severe restriction of choice' on consumers. The Commission will need to determine whether there are similarly negative effects in the EU which could fall within the scope of the competition rules.

concrete actions : none to my knowledge as of 3 years later

Its just a fund rasier

[nurb432]

They will threaten to investigate, and the companies will pony up with protection money.. then all will be back to normal in the pursuit in the reduction of the citizens freedoms..

Its the way of the government...

Re:Its just a fund rasier

[freedom_india]

Nope. Not EU. Theu ACTUALLY investigate and FINE them. The company is prohibited from repeating the same mistake on penalty of criminal action against its management. Take SCO in Germany for example.

DRM

[danknight]

If they ever perfect DRM people will just make an analog copy and take the one time (small) quality hit. I'm not even going to talk about bit-for-bit copys that the real pirates use. It's really just a way to lock in the consumer.

Re:DRM

[ahsile]

I'm not sure it ever will be perfected. As quick as the publishers put copy-protection on, people are breaking through it. And, there are a lot more of us out there trying to break the lock, then are trying to keep it closed.

Re:If people would just stop stealing...

[Dutchmaan]

...and if corporations would sell things for their real value people wouldn't feel compelled to steal because we would have pretty much everything we could ever want...

I agree with Phillips...

[Glock27]

Any CD that's copy protected shouldn't be called a CD. Simple enough...

Re:I agree with Phillips...

[Anonymous Coward]

The ones that break the redbook standard aren't called CDs (except by retailers). Look on the case, you won't find the Compact Disc logo on it.

If we chose not to buy it....

[Anonymous Luddite]

this wouldn't be around for very long. I doubt that's how it will work out, though. :-(

..."Contraband" by Velvet Revolver, a band newly formed by ex-members of Guns N' Roses and the former frontman of the Stone Temple Pilots, became a best seller in June despite heavy copy protection and a warning on the packaging.

(above excerpt from the USA today article.)

We need balance back in the system

[speedfreak_5]

How about this?

Set the copyright system back to the default 14+14 years. If the record companies decide to use DRM on their stuff, make it illegal for them to apply for the 2nd 14 years. That way people can make backups of their stuff unhindered by sh*tty copy protection, and they get to make a little more money.

-=OR=-

Let them keep their Life+70 terms and DRM. In turn file sharing must be legalized and royalty-free sampling and public performance made legal for everyone who buys a CD.

Oh...then its a good thing

[helmespc]

I ripped a copy to my hard drive before it rendered itself unplayable.

Previous judgement

[dago]

I don't have time to search, but the consumer union UFC/Que Choisir previously won against record companies selling copyprotected CDs...

I guess this is some followup to this judgment

Experience with Fnac

[spaceyhackerlady]

I recently bought a CD from Fnac - "Face A/Face B" by Axelle Red. It says right on it that it incorporates copy-protection technology, though it also carries the official CD logo.

The results:

Linux: plays.

Windows: loads their CD player without asking, crashes system.

Car CD player: plays.

Portable Discman-style CD player: doesn't play. Each track plays about 9 seconds in then gets stuck in a loop skipping back a couple of seconds.

"My name is L...Laura..."

Sorry. Friday afternoon. A bit punchy.

...laura

People will buy anyways

[lothar97]

We've seen over the years that people will pay for any kind of crap, from pet rocks, to "Catwoman" movie, to the next manufactured boy band. If it's the "cool thing," people will jump over cliffs like lemmings to obtain it.

It would need to be a massively coordinated effort to get a huge band's copy protected CD boycotted. You'd need mass targeted media, such as MTV or P. Diddy, to lead the charge. I figured it would be bad for them to lead the fight, and I doubt most people would care.

What are we worried about?

[Fortran IV]

Let Microsoft get the monopoly! If MS is controlling DRM technology, then it's sure to be completely insecure and easily hacked.

Still, I'm glad I've hung onto all my old LP's.

Re:Analog copying

[dgatwood]

Never going to happen, for two reasons:

1. We will never see audiophiles agreeing to replace their multi-thousand dollar speakers.
2. There's no such thing as a digital speaker. They are, by their very nature, an analog device. An analog waveform causes the cone to move. Therefore, at the point where the signal enters the speaker's voice coil, it must, by necessity, be an analog signal. It takes a dollar's worth of hardware to adapt an 8 ohm impedance speaker signal into a line level input.

If you can change the laws of physics to make a digital speaker possible, you -still- haven't solved the problem. Buy a good microphone, put it in front of a good (hypothetical) digital speaker. Record. What? You've made microphones illegal somehow? Well, I guess the recording industry won't be making any more recordings, either....

The only way it would be possible to remove the analog hole would be to remove the human being from the mix---hardwire it into your brain somehow. I know I won't be the first to sign up if they try that.... Maybe it's just me....

(Mutters something about always mounting a scratch monkey.)

Palladium

[Steve Cowan]

I may be missing something here, but is there anything new on the evil Microsoft master plan known as 'Palladium'? Is this ultimately what's under investigation?

Seems to me that Palladium is the uber-DRM trump card that Microsoft has up its sleeve - just far enough off that it doesn't warrant "investigation" (yet), but still close enough that it makes me worry for the future of personal computing.

Re:If people would just stop stealing...

[Dutchmaan]

Quit rationalizing theft and just accept the fact that in a free-market system the price of something is set by the level of demand for that thing.

I think that was in relation to supply if I'm not mistaken...

What is the fair value when the supply is for all practical purpose instantaneous and infintely repeatable?

Gov't's motivation ... ?

[H_Fisher]

I haven't met anyone who bought a new DRM'd album (read: Velvet Revolver) and then couldn't play it in his/her home or car equipment. I've known several who tried to listen on the computer; as most of them have Autoplay turned off on principle they didn't have problems either. My only experience with an allegedly DRM'd album was Steely Dan's Everything Must Go which ripped without a hitch and made me think the whole thing was just hype.

So how big a problem is this at this moment? On most supposedly-DRM'd albums the protection doesn't work most of the time; most of the people who want to play the CD are able to do so. Not to be a tinfoil-hat theorist, but why should the government step in now unless it's to set a precedent of some sort? i.e. "Software DRM is obviously not working, so we need hardwired anti-copying chips mandatory in all systems by 2010..."

Only in the EU!

[Anonymous Coward]

Please, oh please, I wish a US legislator would say this someday:

we do not permit a system which provides greater protection than the intellectual property rights themselves

followed by, "... and we've given you enough protection. In fact, we're thinking of repealing some if you don't go out and do what you said you would!"

Does anyone remember the legislative reason for the DMCA? The reason was to encourage copyright holders to increase the availability of music and video online to accelerate the transition to broadband lines. What happened? The entertainment companies got their law, and then started hunting down copyright infringers on websites, while meanwhile Napster arose, and then decentralized P2P, and then, yes, broadband adoption did begin to accelerate - the predicted effects did occur, but not because the media companies advantaged themselves of the protection the new law offered, but conversely, because citizens saw fit to break the law to achieve the ends the media companies promised in hearings publically and in closed sessions supposedly that they would implement.

With the same tongue-embedded-firmly-in-cheek tone one asks "How many mice does it take to screw in a lightbulb?" I ask, "How many times can the media industry lie to a Congresscritter before Congress screams, 'NO!'?"

I say to the hell with the lot of them! Nuke 'em all; and let god sort them out.

The reason for DRM in Europe

[El Cabri]

Copy-protected audio CDs are much more present in Europe mostly because it is made of small, insulated markets where people are culturally much less litigious, and where the legal system often does not offer the possibility of class-action lawsuits.

Imagine launching a copy-protected CD on the US market and ending up with a 1 or 2 million people demanding damages.

This just shows how judicially insecure media companies feel on that subject.