Slashdot Mirror
France To Force iTunes to Open to Other Players?
JordanL writes "It appears that France is pushing through a law that some feel may force Apple to open iTunes to other players. From the article: 'Under a draft law expected to be voted in parliament on Thursday, consumers would be able to legally use software that converts digital content into any format. It would no longer be illegal to crack digital rights management -- the codes that protect music, films and other content -- if it is to enable to the conversion from one format to another.'"
It appears that France is pushing through a law that some feel may force Apple to open iTunes to other players.
French = Freedom. I think that's already been established by the US Congress.
Push Button, Receive Bacon
The article only mentions that Apple would have to allow people to convert their songs into other formats. Does that also apply to Microsoft and other companies? If it applies to all digital media, then this law will effectively end all digital rights management!
I vote to change our "freedom fries" to "french fries"!
I also think that whole "fance surrenders" thing was silly too.
Take the cheese to sickbay, the doctor should see it as soon as possible - B'Elanna Torres, "Learning Curve"
I would have made some kind of retort here, but I was blindsided by your three digit number.
So, ah, don't you have 8-tracks to convert?
It seems to me that the French government is protecting consumer rights from music companies who just want to force their ways of protecting 'Intellectual Property'. Slashdot last year had a story about the Australian government introducing copyright amendment laws to make private copying of videos and TV shows (only for private purposes of course) legal.
There is a grammatical error, the correct writing is: L'iPod est mort, vive l'iPod.
See ? Being French is advantageous. Anytime someone tries to write something in french on /. you can be sure to find an error. So just do like me:
1- Reply to fix the error.
2- Wait for the nice "+5, Informative" mod.
3- ???
4- Karma increased !
Why do we need a justification? France is a democracy which means that the people are the boss. It is clearly in their interest to be able to format-shift and it is also of interest for the economy as a whole to be able to format shift. So why not do it? There are only positives.
And no, Apple isn't required to do anything. They can take it or leave it. It's their choice to sell stuff in France.
Anyone who generalizes about slashdotters is a typical slashdotter.
I mean, poor little Apple has not got its share by illegal means unlike some but by making better products, so its entitled to it.
;)
Apple is a large corporation, just like any other, they are concerned about their bottom line.
Who would want to run an iTune on anything other than an iPod anyway, it would be like putting a lawnmower engine in a Ferrari.
I think you have your analogy backwards. You're saying that taking an iTune, converting it and playing it on another player is better than playing it in an iPod.
We don't want choice of what machines to play music on, we just want one good machine.
Speak for yourself, I want to have a choice as to what hardware I play my music on.
The unique selling point is the integrated experience, its the whole system, the iPod, the iMac, the iTunes, its not any one of them, its the whole thing.
I can see your point, but then, why does Apple have iTunes for Windows?
They are no more expensive than comparably equipped competitive products, its just that they sell for more because they give you more.
If they are "no more expensive than comparbly equipped competitive products", then why did you say they "sell for more"? They have a higher price tag because iPod is the most popular brand name portable MP3 player.
Anyway, you can play them on other machines if you really really want to, though why you would is beyond me.
Thanks for your approval.
Well, now someone got all that out of the way, maybe we could have a discussion...? Because the implications are quite serious, not just for music. For the whole lockin approach. Once one country adopts this, first, it will be impossible to contain within its borders. Second, it will be impossible to contain it to music. It could get real interesting.
Finally something we agree on. It could get realllly interesting.
http://www.hollowdepth.com
Yeah, well, currently Apple have been changing what you can do with the music you have ALREADY PURCHASED. They have been doing this via iTunes software updates. They changed the number of CDs you are "allowed" to burn for each song, and the number of computers you are "allowed" to have each song on.
I think in most countries, that would/should be regarded a very direct violation of consumers' rights. In Australia, you are supposed to get the product you paid for, not something different. By changing how you can "use" each song, Apple have essentially switched the product that people have.
Apple probably justify this by some stupid clause in their Terms & Conditions that states you don't really own the songs at all, or something. I'm sure they also have one of those "we reserve the right to change anything in the terms & conditions without notice" clauses, too.
Fnac is a quite powerfull culture oriented retail group that has setup their own music file format.
They don't use their own format, they use Windows Media Audio with MS DRM. Like everyone except Apple.
I'll do it for cheesy poofs.
I'm afraid the article does not relate *at all* what happens in France at the moment, regarding DRM and "Internet piracy".
- la-licence-globale-repasse-la-trappe.html
The French parliament is currently discussing new laws, that will implement the EUCD directive, by forbidding and severly punishing any attempt to circumvent DRM protection and copyrighted material downloads. This project is called DADvSI.
Some MPs are even pushing to forbid the development, diffusion and the use of P2P software.
Lots of (artits, users, musicians, etc.) communities are opposed to all this.
MPs first voted against this project and adopted a global licence (monthtly fee for unrestricted private downloads), but the French minister of Culture said it was not acceptable and he had the parliament to re-discuss the project again.
More information (all in French) at:
http://fr.news.yahoo.com/10032006/7/projet-dadvsi
http://eucd.info/
http://lestelechargements.fr/
http://www.odebi.org/new/theme/
http://www.adami.fr/
What is really required is for the law to state unequivocally, once and for all that, as long as you own a recording on a legitimately-acquired medium sanctioned by the copyright holder, your "fair dealing" rights include the right to make an unlimited number of copies of that recording in alternative formats for your own use, and to perform any necessary step in the process: copyright would not be infringed unless you used a copy you had made in some way that you would not be permitted to use the original.
What would be even better would be a ban on DRM systems that prevent absolutely the exercise of Fair Dealing rights and/or copying under Special Licence {e.g., I have permission from the band Ocean Colour Scene to make copies of any of their work for my own use; any DRM system that does not take this into account, perhaps by requiring a password to enable copying, should be illegal}.
Je fume. Tu fumes. Nous fûmes!
It's funny that all the "socialist-consumer friendly" laws happening in France right now are being enacted by the conservative government of our beloved leader Jacques "the great" Chirac.
Last fall we had a law making it easy for customers to get out of phone and tv contracts where it was not possible to cancel the contract before the renewal period (usually 12 months).
Keep in mind that elections are due next year and that for those unaware of French politics (although VERY funny) Chirac has been elected last time with 82% of the votes because he was facing our local facist Le Pen, so the left voters HAD to vote for Chirac in the second round of the presidential election of 2002.
Then Chirac promised he would not "forget" this and make a government for "everybody" and not just for his "side". Of course this was quickly forgotten and now with the elections coming he has to steer a little bit to the left after 5 years of "shut up I've been elected and I do what I want".
Additionally I work with Czech people and in Czech "Curak" pronouced "shurak" is very close to "sheerak" and means "Asshole", languages are great aren't they ? And Bush is pronounced like "bouche" in French which means "mouth" and also "liar" if you use it in "c'est une bouche" translated as "he's full of mouth"...
Bottom line is that France is rediscovering freedom for consumers instead of corporations because elections are coming up, but it's a good time to grab things...
Now if only more people write in bad brazilian portuguese I could get some karma bonus also...
Wait... I'm the one who writes in bad portuguese and bad english. Minus karma to me!
I would have made some kind of retort here, but I was blindsided by your three digit number.
The groupies are the best part.
Now if you'll excuse me, I have some wax cylinders to rip...
Ooh, a sarcasm detector. Oh, that's a real useful invention.
It's fairly clear that I have a moral right to keep my work secret. The moment I make it public and people start reading or viewing or using it, however, it becomes part of the heritage of the society, it influences and changes - and, if it is widely consumed, society end up with a much larger investment in it than I had.
Presently, society grants me the privilege of restricting copying - using its guns or the threat of them to punish those that defy my wishes. This is, however, not something I can demand. It is something that society grants.
Eivind.
Doubting the existence of evolution is like doubting the existence of China: It just shows that you're uninformed.