p2p news / p2pnet: France is about to cave in to Apple Computer, making legislation, adopted by the National Assembly that would have compelled Apple and other companies to make their music playable on any device, virtually toothless.

As things stand, Apple’s FairPlay Digital Restrictions Management (DRM), for example, is anything but. Dubbed C.R.A.P. by ZDNet’s David Berlind, FairPlay DRM stops punters who’ve paid $1 and more for music files worth only a few cents from playing them on anything other than iPods.

French politicians had previously approved changes to allow anyone in France to demand disclosures that would have effectively ended DRM. But the law would have meant "state-sponsored piracy,” Apple said at the time, and analysts predicted Steve Jobs would have pulled iTunes in France rather than having to open up his music format.

And a scheme under which Apple will penetrate major French teaching institutions with Apple iPods and iTunes, spuriously presented as important teaching aids, was also threatened.

In the US, Duke University and Stanford are examples of schools which are effectively Apple sales units. In France, Apple has started a ‘collaboration’ under which it’ll work with a business school near Versailles, "integrating iPods and other digital technology into classrooms and curricula".

But what’s being called a compromise to the ant-DRM law is slated to be approved today by French legislators.

The compromise, "maintains a Senate loophole" that could allow Apple, et al, to get around the law by making deals with the members of the Big Four Organized Music record label cartel, says the Associated Press.

"A new regulatory authority would be given the power to resolve disputes by ordering companies to license their exclusive file formats to rivals – but only if the restrictions they impose are ‘additional to, or independent of, those explicitly decided by the copyright holders’," says the story, going on:

"This means that Apple and Sony Corp. could avoid having to share their FairPlay and ATRAC3 file formats, lawyers say, if they obtained permission from the artists whose music they sell. Christian Vanneste, the governing party deputy who presented the bill to the Assembly, said that a rival company’s right to market compatible products and services would ‘hang on the will of the copyright holder’ under the terms of the compromise."

The draft, "also introduces new penalties for a range of online piracy offenses – up to a maximum three-year jail term and a 300,000 euro ($380,000) fine for knowingly offering or advertising an illegal music download service," says AP, adding:

"Unlike the National Assembly’s text, the compromise bill does not allow consumers to file complaints against companies with the new authority, Vanneste said. Lawmakers have also agreed to scrap an earlier proposal allowing copy-protection technologies to be legally hacked when they prevent rival music players and sites from working together.

"Before becoming law, the compromise text adopted by the joint committee requires a final vote of approval in both houses, where the governing UMP commands an absolute majority."

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Also See:
also threatened – Nokia launches beta release of podcasting application, June 21, 2006
stops punters – Apple and its C.R.A.P., March 4, 2006
integrating iPods – Apple: foiled in France, March 28, 2006
Associated Press – France poised to soften controversial iTunes bill, June 22, 2006

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