France passes draft, threatens iTunes
- updated 01:00 pm EST, Tue March 21, 2006
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by MacNN Staff
by MacNN StaffLaw threatens iTunes
I shutdown would seen the logical path given Apple's stubbornness in situations like this. Besides, its the French...
My guess is that Apple will be forced to sell vinyl and 8 tracks in France that connect up to a toaster...
... not unique to France, but not surprising to see it happen there, first. This is the other extreme, unlike in the USA, where lawmakers will bend over backwards to 'protect' the individual -- well, that is, as long as what they are protecting them from is not French.
If Apple and iTunes were French originated innovations and product, then you can bet that no such law would ever be considered.
Inherently, the concept of the law is not entirely bad, essentially creating a level playing field, except that enacting this kind of law would result in the potential loss, to France, of access to legal digital music, as no other competitor would want to take a foothold there either, if Apple abandons the country.
My prediction regarding this is two-fold:
- Apple, on one hand will make an effort to wiggle out of it, by claiming their ability to burn to CD allows the free exchange of their content with other players. Technically, they are correct, and I never understood the legal arguments of that idiot with his class-action suit, claiming Apple is forcing him to buy an iPod to listen to his downloaded music. Download with iTunes, burn to CD, import to whatever Windows junk you own, and you are good! Likewise, Apple could demonstrate this functionality (which PlaysForSure does not offer), and get out of it.
- Otherwise, Apple may provide a 'new function' in a future version of iTunes, that allows direct export of files in MP3 format (i.e. instead of burning the CD, just exporting the files to a folder), or allows option clicking a file and having it exported into an external program.
Either of these ought to work under the intent of the law. The only way Apple will pull out of France is if the law requires them to reveal and share their proprietary technology with competitors - in which case the French iTnes store will be shut down, French iTunes consumers will riot, and the law will quietly be amended by the lawmakers (either that, or Apple will simply move the store to Switzerland, or Lichtenstein, and make it accept French billing information).
Either way, typical lawmakers.
"the law has yet to be debated and approved by the Senate--a process that would not begin until at least May"
Apple will offer no comment until there is reason to act.
French congressional action will wither and not stand the scrutiny of legal review.
"This is the other extreme, unlike in the USA, where lawmakers will bend over backwards to 'protect' the individual"
what country do you live in? i've seen nothing but a constant increase in corporate protection and decrease in individual protection over the last decade or so.
as for this law, i'm all for it. the sooner DRM is outlawed the better. france deserves a lot of credit for pioneering this and i just hope the rest of europe follows suit quickly. then maybe it'll pressure the united states to revisit the draconian DRM laws.
"either that, or Apple will simply move the store to Switzerland, or Lichtenstein, and make it accept French billing information"
No need for that: the europeans iTMS are in Luxemburg already.
Dashiel, I *think* you and zikdifferent agree — that protection for the consumer is atypical in the States. His/her phrasing is just confusing.
you're an idiot.
DRM does not affect anyone, unless you the consumer decide to take part in it. One way you kill it is by not using it. You do no circumvent it by s******* a company that is playing by the law. You never have to see it, hear it or be part of it. It's call freedom of choice, French Socialist don't know anything about that.
France can go F**K themselves. Close down iTunes in France and let them go after MS. Their c*** doesn't even play on Mac. I don't see any French law targeting MS on their monopoly.
This debate isn't about DRM, it's about closed system. French Government wants Apple to allow 3rd part devices to access iTunes music store.
Why should Apple be forced to help anyone else... I didn't see any of them helping Apple out when Apple was in financial problems. So somehow Apple has to subsidize all the MP3 business via the ITMS?
I'm not quite sure where you get off calling Dashiel an idiot - perhaps it makes you feel 'right'. Nevertheless, his point seems quite valid and he never said anything about supporting the iTunes Music Store. In fact I bet he, like me, owns little to no music from iTMS.
Believe it or not, there are many people that dream of a day when we can purchase DRM free music, and give our favorite artists due compensation. Without people standing up to these DRM encompassed (or 'closed' or whatever you want to call it) business models, that day will never come. I think France should be commended for bringing this to light.
Well good for you... so what give you right to talk about something you take no part in.
And I don't really care if he doesn't support ITMS. It's about principle government interference. If I had a business plan that was working, I certainly wouldn't let government decide for me how to run it. It's none of their business. That is called free enterprise. No one is getting ripped off, no one has been duped into buying something that they can use anywhere else.
You can purchase DRM free music it's called eMusic or CDs.
That is why you and dashiel are idiots. You have no point when you, the consumer, consciously make the decision to purchase DRMed content.
You have a freaking choice. you are not bound by DRM, you never were. What the f*** are you talking about "Standing up to these DRM encompassed business models" When did these business become indispensable? These are luxury items, this s*** isn't bread or milk, you can survive without them. When did Apple point a gun to your head and made you buy any of their songs? Ermm, that would be never.
Bring this to light? Yes this is really important that DRM be exposed for the evil that it is... DRM is evil, but government s******* your business is perfectly fine. You are an idiot.
I'm sorry you seem so upset over other peoples viewpoints on DRM. I would suggest a drink, but from the sounds of it, that's probably still a number of years away for you.
I don't even know where to begin with your absurd points about governments staying out business. Perhaps you've heard of Enron or Microsoft? They both had GREAT business models - until the government stepped in. Of course that doesn't even stop some...
It seems you are missing the point all together about DRM'd music. It's not that there aren't alternatives right now for purchasing music, there are plenty - we know that. The problem is that the industry is very well heading down a path that could lead to all music being DRM'd and distributed online without many alternatives. What's going to happen if in the future the big 5 record companies team up with different online music stores. For example say UMG sells only through iTMS, Sony Music sells only through their own online music store, EMI sells only through Google Music, etc. Unless DRM either opens up or goes away, you would need to own five different mp3 players to be able to play whatever music you wanted.
I don't know if your upset with me because you think I'm putting the blame on Apple or what - I'm not. I honestly don't know if they would use DRM if they weren't forced to and I'm not going to speculate on that.
As a business man and person who makes living selling software. I do not want Government to tell me how I have to sell my wares. Apple did not defraud millions of people and no public money was wasted.
But for the French government to tell Apple how to run their business smacks of protectionism and quite frankly I wouldn't be shocked if this was orchestrated by Apple's competitors. And that's what gets me upset.
You concern is valid, but it's a far fetched delusional conspiracy theory. No matter what happens, it's the consumers that decide what succeed. So yes UMG sells only through ITMS, SONY sells through their own online store, EMI sells thought Google music. But so what, let the market decide not that, not the government. So they come up with 5 different MP3 players... I get to make that decision, I don't want the government to step in for me. Go after Enron and that type of business practices. Sony will never limit their sales to their own online store. It will be suicide, no self respecting business will do that. You want people to buy your product
But you know what? In the end I can always burn my ITMS songs to cd's. Apple already gave you this ability, so why put them in the same category as ? That is what I want to know.
And believe me it's not you that got me upset.
First, France is NOT a socialist country, it is a democracy, that just so happened to FREELY elect a socialist party.
Second, Apple is playing by French law, but if the law is changed it no longer will be playing by the law if it does not open up the DRM. That is why we have a government, to change the law when the majority of people want it changed. Funny people do not support freedom, when it goes against what they wish.
Third, the only Americans that are free in any meaningful way are the ones that have a lot of money. Content companies have plenty of it, and they freely use it to bribe Congress to draft laws that s**** regular folks.
Fourth, this law will likley benefit Apple, and it will not withdraw from France. This is because Apple really does not care about iTunes as a revenue source, but just wants people to buy iPods. iPods drive cusomters to iTunes, not the other way around.
Once again it's obvious how our US public education system has failed at teaching people just the basics of what is happening abroad. Let me clear up some of the garbage that has been posted here. And please, my fellow European friends, bear with us. We're not all uneducated idiots - some of us actually try to be fairly sensible people. Not every American is from Texas. ;)
- Socialism/Democracy: This is a moot point. Socialism is an economic system, democracy is a political system. A democracy can be socialist (Norway for example) or not (USA or Japan). Non-socialist countries can be democratic (Germany) or not (United Arab Emirates for example). Mixing the two is like saying computers all run Windows and music players all run iTunes. It might sound simple, but it's just plain wrong.
- French being rules by socialists: Another false statement coming from people who obviously know nothing about France. The ruling party in France is the UMP which is a center-right party similar to the Republican Party in the US. The French President Jacques Chirac is from the UMP as well. The socialist party is the PSF which has not been in the government since 2002 (Lionel Jospin).
Some of you uneducated morons might consider the facts before you vent here and embarrass yourselves but also many other of us Americans who prefer to have an educated opinion rather than simplistic political slugfests.
Everytime I use our printers or data exchanges I shudder at the name "Bonjour". Is someone at Apple so out of touch that they do not know that all things French are considered in bad light here in the homeland. This response was noted long before this latest France anti American debacle.
ticedric 03/21, 01:09pm
if you look at how apple has reacted in the past to such situations, we can expect a "silent" shut down of the Itunes store in france...