France Declares War On ITunes
Apple has made a tidy profit on its iPod music player, the only device that can accept music downloads directly from iTunes; the French government wants iTunes to be able to place music on any digital media player.
After their call to arms by French President Chirac to top Google at search was laughed off the Internet, the French retreated to their dismal cafés to smoke evil cigarettes and plot against American technical superiority again.
Apparenly, someone with a wacky sense of humor, and we're guessing we can thank our British friends, has suggested the French force Apple to open up its Fairplay DRM scheme and permit users to download songs from iTunes to any media player.
The concept has captured the fancy of France's parliament, Reuters reported. Essentially, cracking Apple's DRM would not be a crime:
"It will force some proprietary systems to be opened up...You have to be able to download content and play it on any device," Christian Vanneste, Rapporteur, a senior parliamentarian who helps guide law in France, told Reuters in a telephone interview Monday.
"The person who will have converted iTunes songs will be able to make it available elsewhere," Marc Guez, head of the French Collecting Society for Music Producers rights (SCPP), told Reuters.
We imagine that Apple CEO Steve Jobs' gently-cooling body will be laying in state at 1 Infinite Loop for a national 10-day period of mourning before he allows iTunes to continue operating in France should the legislation find its way into law.
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Tag: iTunes |
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