iTunes Nordic row intensifies
p2pnet.net News:- The Norwegian consumer ombudsman may sue Apple Computer if it doesn’t soon resolve its iTunes C.R.A.P.
“iTunes can change the your rights to the music after you downloaded it,” said the country’s consumer council in January.
“This is a violation of basic principles of consumer contract law,” declared Torgeir Waterhouse, senior council adviser. “Consumers who want to play they’re music on a non-iPod player must first remove the copy protection, this removal for legitimate private use is however stopped by iTunes DRM technology and Terms of Use. iTunes stopping this removal for legitimate private use like playing the music on a non-iPod mp3 player is obviously in violation of the Copyright Act.”
Copyright Canada.ca’s Russell McOrmond recently pointed out that, according to CNET News, Waterhouse has stated, “It’s very difficult to see how locking consumers into the iPod is preserving the rights of any given artist…It’s just not replying to (the complaint). Apple is trying to ‘smoke screen‘ it away.”
“What Apple is doing is describing what DRM is intended to be: encoding content such that it can only be played on ‘authorized players’, with the only authorized players being those where the manufacturer retains control and where the owner of the device is considered the attacker of that device,” says McOrmond. “Any country that’s ratified the 1996 WIPO treaties is in a dilemma: the practises these treaties legalized are at their heart anti-competitive.
“One has to give: either the laws that protect free market economies must be preserved, or the 1996 WIPO treaties are preserved, as the two are incompatible with each other. I know my vote is in protecting the economy, not protecting platform monopolies or duped copyright holders who mistakenly believe that platform monopolies will help them.”
Now, “Nordic consumer regulators will meet in Iceland this month to discuss possible legal action against Apple Computer Inc,” says BusinessWeek Online, going on:
“In June, the consumer agencies in Norway, Denmark and Sweden claimed that Apple was violating contract and copyright laws in their countries by making its iPod the only portable music player compatible with songs purchased from the company’s iTunes music store.
“In a reply, Apple staunchly defended its restrictions, and indicated it was not willing to change its business model by opening its iTunes downloads to rival portable players that cannot play music recorded in the iTunes digital format.”
It’s just as well that Cupertino isn’t close to the sea, “otherwise there would be a fleet of dragon ships off-shore with a horde of Nordic consumer regulators aiming to try out the ancient rite of the Blood Eagle on Steve Jobs,” observes The Inquirer.
Also See:
C.R.A.P. – Apple and its C.R.A.P., March 4, 2006
change the your rights – Norwegian iTunes victory, June 8, 2006
smoke screen – Norway and iTunes DRM, August 8, 2006
BusinessWeek Online – Nordic regulators to discuss Apple, August 15, 2006
The Inquirer – Apple iTunes faces Viking attack, August 16, 2006
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August 16th, 2006 at 10:54 pm
wots that little character sposed to be?