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ITMS Faces Complaint From Norwegian Ombudsman
Whiney Mac Fanboy writes "Following the French Bill that threatened Apple's iTunes service in France, the iTunes music store is facing more uncertainty in Scandinavia. According to a report in Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten, Norway's Consumer Ombudsman has filed a complaint with Apple's music download sales service iTunes, arguing that the transaction terms violate Norwegian law. The Register is also reporting this story:, saying a contract cannot be regulated by English law, rather than Norwegian law, so iTunes must accept responsibility for damage its software may do, and said it is unreasonable to alter terms and conditions after a song has been sold. Consumer Council told the Reg: 'The Consumer Council has asked Apple to respond as to whether iTunes should work on other platforms - they have until 21 June to respond. After that the Ombudsman is likely to set another deadline and then start fining the company.' The BPI (Britain's RIAA equivalent) has also called upon Apple to license Fairplay."
All of these organizations are pro-control anti-consumer and we all should realize that immediately. No government mandate on companies is ever good for consumers because it decreases the amount of competition in a market and it raises prices. You can't prove otherwise. Higher prices with less competition usually mean lower quality products and even lower quality research for new products.
Thank you Apple for the iPod. My household has 3 (2 we bought new, 1 we won) and The Freaky Blonde has downsized her CD collection to storage and we've recaptured almost 10 square feet of space. She uses them in all our cars and she uses them hen exercizing. I personally don't use one (I'm happy just burning MP3s to CD) but the device is incredible, and would never have been made if Apple was forced to follow mandates that supposedly protect the consumer.
If they had to follow these idiotic laws in the beginning, the consumer would be protected, surely: protected from ever seeing great devices like the iPod and whatever the next competitor will release.
The only thing missing right now would be a revocation of the DMCA so that hackers could legally find ways to allow the iPod to run other software. Don't you see how it is always government that reduces our choices and our freedoms? Apple can't freely say no to running another company's songs, and the consumer can't say yes to modifying his own product that he bought.
Pro-consumer? Right.
Norwegians have good neighbors...
Seriously though, Apple should take its marbles and go home.