French Copyright Bill Moves Forward, With A Little Less Teeth

from the politics-makes-the-world-go-round dept

Fri, May 12th 2006 9:50am — Carlo Longino

The controversial proposal in France that would have forced content providers to make their DRM technologies interoperable and allow consumers to play back their legally purchased content on any device. Predictably, the entertainment industry said zut alors!, and accused France of state-sponsored piracy. The bill has now been approved in the French senate -- though much of the more controversial language has been toned down. However, it still reduces the penalties for piracy to the level of a traffic offense, and requires companies to turn over technical information on their DRM to a government agency, which will ensure interoperability and set terms for digital content, such as how many times it can be copied. As part of all the doomsday talk coming from entertainment companies, the IFPI, the global equivalent of the RIAA, complains that the French have removed any deterrence from piracy, and they're right -- in that they've removed legal deterrence. Now it's up the the IFPI's members and the rest of the entertainment industry to come up with a competitive deterrent to piracy, to create products and services people would rather pay for than resort to illegal free content. They like to fall back on the saying "you can't compete with free," but it's not an issue of can't, they simply won't bother. After all, it's far easier to lobby for stricter copyright laws and higher penalties than it is to actually come up with some new products and ideas that their customers will pay for.

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team

16 Comments

If you liked this post, you may also be interested in...

Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread

AJ, 12 May 2006 @ 10:15am

Finally
Well its about time somone stuck it to the RIAA
[ link to this | view in thread ]
anonymous coward, 12 May 2006 @ 10:23am

the U.S. can no longer call the French cowards.

they might have folded to the Germans like a house of cards, but at least they can stand up to the RIAA
[ link to this | view in thread ]
CMAN, 12 May 2006 @ 10:42am

mp3's are not free! but they should be cheap.
if food, money, your house, car, clothes aren't free, MP3's shouldn't be free either.

I own a record label and without security and people paying for my music, it is not worth it to pursue it.

I am not rich, i need every penny from every sale I can get.

mp3 for a buck is fine.

mp3's for .25 cents as fine, as long as the artists and the label get paid.

We have all whored around enough mp3s, let buy some for a change people, they are still cheaper then ringtones!
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Reverend, 12 May 2006 @ 11:07am

If you want to make money, you need to adapt the business model. It's as simple as that.

I know of a record label that works solely through myspace. Its only mission is to spread the music around (free downloads), set up shows for their bands, and sell merch at those shows.

A record label in the traditional sense is becoming an outdated business model.

When a musician can create and record their own music with a desktop computer and a mixer, set up their own shows/tour with a cell phone and google maps, promote it themselves over the internet however they see fit, who needs a record label?

Seamstresses didn't sue the Sewing Machine.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Ben, 12 May 2006 @ 11:23am

Re: mp3's are not free! but they should be cheap.
I agree that Labels and Artists should get paid from entertaining us all. but using the "Food and cars aren't free" is rediculous. Food and Cars are limited to the amount that can be produced over time and the products that go into creating each item. mp3s on the other hand can be copied over and over again without any cost to reproduce. You should be paid for what you put into the product, agreed. but drop the "food and gas" arguement.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Mike C., 12 May 2006 @ 11:25am

It's been said before...
... but bears repeating.
If the industry makes it harder for me to be a consumer, I will be less of a consumer. Humans are lazy creatures by nature and will follow the path of least resistance. I haven't bought an audio CD since last December, and that one was a gift for my wife. I haven't bought a CD for myself in several years.
I am an honest consumer, but am not made of money. If I buy music, I want to be able to listen to it on my stereo, in my car and on any one of the computers I use, whether it's my work laptop or my home desktop. Online MP3 purchases don't let me do that, so I won't buy them.
In the end, I guess I owe the entertainment industry a hearty thanks for giving me a reason to NOT spend money on media, but save it for the concerts where the artists get a bigger cut. Who knows, maybe they really are thinking of the artists and that's their plan.....
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 12 May 2006 @ 11:25am

Re: mp3's are not free! but they should be cheap.
Yell ya what, If I could copy all those things perfectly without costing anyone else anything or affecting them in any way then that would be a valid comparason.

I'm happy to pay for content, ONCE, not once per device not once per decade or format.

I have over 3000 LP's Cassettes and CD's.
Telling me I am not entitled to listen to any of that paid for content on any device I choose is the problem.
I aready bought the license, Fair use exists and no amount of DRM is going to change that.

If yoou want me to buy more music, you will need to make music that dosent suck.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Simon, 12 May 2006 @ 11:49am

This Register article reports that the industry are still murmuring about whether they would pull out of France. If they do that, France should just repel the laws entirely and let it be a free for all. After all, what's the point of having laws to protect something that the vendors are unwilling to sell?
I wonder where all the torrent seeders would be based in that case?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Simon, 12 May 2006 @ 11:50am

Type
repel=repeal.

I suck.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
JellyRoll, 12 May 2006 @ 12:54pm

Wow..
Who would've thought that the first country to strap on a pair and tell the RIAA to go fuck themselves would be France?

I think I speak for the majority of music fans worldwide when I say, "France, I salute you."
[ link to this | view in thread ]
dorpus, 12 May 2006 @ 1:23pm

Franconesians
Since French don't make music, what do they have to lose?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
A. Bosch, 12 May 2006 @ 1:56pm

Still a Bad Law
While I'm no fan of the RIAA or of DRM, I still think the law is ill-advised. Let the market decide. If you don't want the restrictiveness of certain content providesrs, don't pruchase from them. If your iTunes file doesn't work everywhere you want it to, don't buy it. This isn't something that should be legislated.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Jezsik, 12 May 2006 @ 2:56pm

Re: Franconesians
Dorpus, just because you don't know any French music doesn't mean they don't produce any music.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Chris, 12 May 2006 @ 3:26pm

RE: Still a Bad Law
A Bosch said:

"your iTunes file doesn't work everywhere you want it to, don't buy it. This isn't something that should be legislated."

The reason why France is trying to pass this law, is because the iPod is starting to monopolize the industry. The easisest way to stop this is to force Apple to make their songs playable on all devices, and this is the legislation that's trying to be put into effect [to stop mp3 - music player monoplization, not the format (iTunes) itself].

iTunes is a product that Apple made, if you agree to purchase their content you agree that it can only be played on one device. They found a way to keep their product to themselves, so good for them. What France is more or less trying to do is stop copy protection software from inhibiting playback on devices it was made for. Example: DVD's with security features that wont allow you to use the DVD because it's running on older model DVD players. THIS is what should be illegal, and what they're trying to stop, however with legislation a bunch of other garbage gets thrown into the mix, and this is what France now has trying to get passed.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Garfiode, 12 May 2006 @ 8:33pm

variable pay
Another option is that you can choose a variable pay model. Songs are free then you contribe the amount that you think the song is worth.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
liveplasma, 13 May 2006 @ 3:16am

French groups
I think that the most famous french bands knowed outside the the France... are

Air and DaftPunk, Laurent Garnier(DJ) for the electro

We have also some great bands like Noir Desir, tetes raides, Louise Attaque (they sing in french... sometimes in english...)
[ link to this | view in thread ]