This past week, lawmakers in the French National Assembly voted to open up the various copyright technologies which companies like Apple, Microsoft, and Sony use to protect their digital media. If passed, the bill would allow music downloaded from any online music store to work with any digital audio player. In addition, it will also significantly reduce the penalties for copyright violation, bringing the fines down to the level of traffic violations. The legislation still needs to be approved by the French Senate to become law, but it is already causing a commotion among content providers.
Its most vocal critic is of course Apple, whose synergistic “iTunes+iPod” model would be shattered by this precedent. Currently, if you buy an audio or video file on iTunes and wanted to put it on a portable player, your only option would be to get an iPod because it is the only player that supports Apple’s “FairPlay” copyright protection. With iTunes as the current de facto standard for online media delivery, this system seems exceedingly monopolistic. While the French bill doesn’t explicitly mention Apple as its target, they would certainly be the ones to suffer the most.
On the other hand, complete interoperability such as this would be a major boon to consumers, who I imagine are growing tired of the seemingly pointless copyright restrictions placed on their digital media. The bill would also benefit Microsoft’s online music business because their service is already spread across several different portable audio players. Adding the iPod into their list of supported players is possibly the single greatest thing that could happen to Microsoft’s fledgling online service.
It seems as if it would help everyone but Apple, so of course they’re crying foul big time. Apple spokeswoman Natalie Karis said that the bill would result in “state-sponsored piracy” (reuters.com)—an ignorant statement considering that nothing is stopping users from placing unprotected MP3s on their iPods. If piracy is truly their concern, they would want to cooperate with other parties to make legally purchased media easier to use. US commerce chief Carlos Gutierrez is backing up Apple’s stance as well, he believes that companies should stand up for their intellectual property (physorg.com). Of course, he doesn’t seem to realize the gravity of Apple’s monopoly.
Another option for Apple, if the bill pulls through, is to pull out of the French market entirely. Even if they choose to do so though, they can’t always run whenever a country demands a fair online music market. At some point, they will have to come to terms with supporting DRM from other companies.
Honestly, I’m surprised it’s taken so long for someone to call Apple on their media monopoly. It’s obvious that the only reason they don’t want to support third-party DRM is because they want the iTunes store to be the one and only option for iPod users. They’ve had a good run with this model, but it’s about time that they give their users something they should have had from the start: Choice.
The other half of the bill has less to do with Apple and more to do with the crazy litigious attitude adopted by both the MPAA and RIAA for dealing with file sharers. The French lawmakers wish to lower the penalty for users found pirating to a fine of $50-$180US, down from a hypothetical punishment of $365,000US (biz.yahoo.com). It makes more sense to move this sort of thing into the neighborhood of traffic violations, since I would suspect it to be common amongst internet users. If successful, this bill could influence the way the MPAA and RIAA handle piracy punishment in the U.S.
We’ll have to wait a few months to see if anything comes of this bill, but if it does get passed we can expect repercussions throughout the world of online media stores.
Amherst Bytes #25: Apple, France, and DRM
This past week, lawmakers in the French National Assembly voted to open up the various copyright technologies which companies like Apple, Microsoft, and Sony use to protect their digital media. If passed, the bill would allow music downloaded from any online music store to work with any digital audio player. In addition, it will also significantly reduce the penalties for copyright violation, bringing the fines down to the level of traffic violations. The legislation still needs to be approved by the French Senate to become law, but it is already causing a commotion among content providers.
Its most vocal critic is of course Apple, whose synergistic “iTunes+iPod” model would be shattered by this precedent. Currently, if you buy an audio or video file on iTunes and wanted to put it on a portable player, your only option would be to get an iPod because it is the only player that supports Apple’s “FairPlay” copyright protection. With iTunes as the current de facto standard for online media delivery, this system seems exceedingly monopolistic. While the French bill doesn’t explicitly mention Apple as its target, they would certainly be the ones to suffer the most.
On the other hand, complete interoperability such as this would be a major boon to consumers, who I imagine are growing tired of the seemingly pointless copyright restrictions placed on their digital media. The bill would also benefit Microsoft’s online music business because their service is already spread across several different portable audio players. Adding the iPod into their list of supported players is possibly the single greatest thing that could happen to Microsoft’s fledgling online service.
It seems as if it would help everyone but Apple, so of course they’re crying foul big time. Apple spokeswoman Natalie Karis said that the bill would result in “state-sponsored piracy” (reuters.com)—an ignorant statement considering that nothing is stopping users from placing unprotected MP3s on their iPods. If piracy is truly their concern, they would want to cooperate with other parties to make legally purchased media easier to use. US commerce chief Carlos Gutierrez is backing up Apple’s stance as well, he believes that companies should stand up for their intellectual property (physorg.com). Of course, he doesn’t seem to realize the gravity of Apple’s monopoly.
Another option for Apple, if the bill pulls through, is to pull out of the French market entirely. Even if they choose to do so though, they can’t always run whenever a country demands a fair online music market. At some point, they will have to come to terms with supporting DRM from other companies.
Honestly, I’m surprised it’s taken so long for someone to call Apple on their media monopoly. It’s obvious that the only reason they don’t want to support third-party DRM is because they want the iTunes store to be the one and only option for iPod users. They’ve had a good run with this model, but it’s about time that they give their users something they should have had from the start: Choice.
The other half of the bill has less to do with Apple and more to do with the crazy litigious attitude adopted by both the MPAA and RIAA for dealing with file sharers. The French lawmakers wish to lower the penalty for users found pirating to a fine of $50-$180US, down from a hypothetical punishment of $365,000US (biz.yahoo.com). It makes more sense to move this sort of thing into the neighborhood of traffic violations, since I would suspect it to be common amongst internet users. If successful, this bill could influence the way the MPAA and RIAA handle piracy punishment in the U.S.
We’ll have to wait a few months to see if anything comes of this bill, but if it does get passed we can expect repercussions throughout the world of online media stores.