French Piracy Law
March 9th, 2006
The French government is trying again to push through a measure cracking down on file-sharing on the internet.
Enemies of the move in France's National Assembly passed an amendment in December allowing users to download as much as they like for a small fee.
The latest draft deletes this controversial clause, but also reduces punishment for illegal downloaders.
The law will have implications for firms like iTunes, as it insists all files must be playable on all devices.
Currently, iTunes sells its own exclusive format that can only be used on parent firm Apple's own devices.
The bit where files have to be playable on all devices is great! This will probably force Apple to license out Fairplay so you could play your music on a Creative Zen and Windows Media Player. Perhaps it could mean the end of DRM as it still won't be playable on all devices. I don't know, IANAL 
I'm all for stopping DRM lock-in though.
If only this law was implemented in the UK and everyone sold their music DRM-free at high quality then there might be a good reason to stop buying CDs.
- Uncategorized
- Comments(1)
Digg
StumbleUpon
I definitely agree… Because I have an iPod, I don't feel the effects of the DRM lock-out, however I do hate only being able to have songs on 5 computers.
I have to say… The French are doing something right