Hadopi Says French National Library Needs Unprotected Works... To Put Its Own DRM On

from the locking-up-culture dept

Mon, Feb 4th 2013 1:56pm — Mike Masnick

In the past, many have noted that proprietary formats for content almost guarantee that certain works will be lost to history. Backwards compatibility becomes a problem, and before long content that could be accessed by tons of programs may be impossible to open just a few years later. For libraries and archvists this is a huge problem -- and it's made even worse when you add DRM to the mix. It appears that even the "anti-piracy" folks in France recognize this, but only to a limited extent.

According to the French publication, Numerama, Hadopi (the agency in charge of stamping out infringement in France), has published an opinion in which it suggests that content creators give the French National Library (Bibliothèque Nationale de France or BNF) works without any DRM on them. As they quite rightly note, in order to better make sure that the culture is preserved and that future archives are accessible, a lack of DRM makes much more sense. They even note that just providing a DRM'd copy with the keys to decrypt it, or with circumvention tools, really isn't sufficient for proper archiving.

That said, the report also then appears to fret about the BNF leaking these unprotected works out into the world. The suggestion seems to be that (wait for it...) the BNF then create its own DRM to lock up the unprotected works that it needs to keep them from getting locked up. In other words, the whole plan is pretty useless anyway.

This is just an opinion, and not binding in any way. So apparently the French government is still considering what sorts of requirements it intends to put on submissions to the BNF, but once again it seems like an overly aggressive "fear of piracy" may actually lead to some bad technical decisions for the sake of "protecting" some works against infringement.

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Filed Under: access, archives, copyright, drm, france, hadopi, library, locked up
Companies: bnf, hadopi

16 Comments

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Baldaur Regis (profile), 4 Feb 2013 @ 2:11pm

Ah, France...
Those who cannot access the past are doomed to repeat it.
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- Anonymous Monkey (profile), 4 Feb 2013 @ 2:22pm
  
  Re: Ah, France...
  *slow clap* Bravo!
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- Zos (profile), 4 Feb 2013 @ 2:23pm
  
  Re: Ah, France...
  and those who can are doomed to be ignored and forced to watch while it gets repeated anyway.
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- Ninja (profile), 5 Feb 2013 @ 2:54am
  
  Re: Ah, France...
  Epic comment is epic. *bows in deep respect*
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Anonymous Coward, 4 Feb 2013 @ 2:26pm

Luckily 'pirates' have proven to be far better at archiving.
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matt C, 4 Feb 2013 @ 3:02pm

WTF?
and that friends is the height of insanity...for the moment
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Anonymous Coward, 4 Feb 2013 @ 3:26pm

I refuse to believe this is real. This must be a plot from some obscure sitcom you're recycling.
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That One Guy (profile), 4 Feb 2013 @ 3:49pm

Someone should submit something to them with the file already locked up via DRM, then when they ask just tell them you're 'saving them the effort of doing it yourself'.
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Jessie (profile), 4 Feb 2013 @ 3:50pm

Hmm.
Wait, all media under a single DRM format? That's crazy talk. Next thing you know, you'll be talking about selling digital copies of media at reasonable prices.
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rd, 4 Feb 2013 @ 3:52pm

not about piracy at all
this is not at all about piracy, not one little bit. it's about control, with Hadopi controlling the access to this content and no one else.
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Anonymous Coward, 4 Feb 2013 @ 4:16pm

DRM is bad. We need more DRM.
Someone tell the people at Hadopi that they're supposed to take the medicine every day, not just when they feel like it.
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Qyiet (profile), 4 Feb 2013 @ 5:45pm

Double Encrypt it
I suggest they use ROT13.. twice to be extra certain.
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Anonymous Coward, 4 Feb 2013 @ 9:17pm

Wait... so we're taking works out of the public domain, reattaching copyrights and weighing them down with extra DRM just so the works won't be pirated? Wouldn't it make more sense just to leave them in the public domain in the first place?

I guess all that Veuve Cliquot must be going to their heads...
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Anonymous Coward, 5 Feb 2013 @ 1:34am

so, have works made available to the public, but then remove the ability for the public to do anything with them. now where have i come across that before?
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Anonymous Coward, 5 Feb 2013 @ 1:53am

We have PDF/A1a and b, txt and ASCII - but that would be too easy for the french....
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Ninja (profile), 5 Feb 2013 @ 2:57am

I wonder who will have no history in 500 years. The US seem to be well ahead of not having its history registered. France is following close?
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