What (Among Other Things) The French Government Doesn't Get Justin Hartfield
The French are protesting again.
Over what, now? The absence of French-translated 50 Cent songs? Their government's decision not to protect new employees for two years after their initial hire? The increasing costs of cigarettes? The lack of available sourdough bread baguettes?
WARNING: Some of these outrageous questions may be the sad reality of the French socialist state.
THIS time around, however, the French want the Apple corporation to reveal the source code of its most popular software application, iTunes. They also want to force Apple to make the songs downloaded through its iTunes software to be playable on other, non-Apple devices.
The aim of this new legislation, according to ranking French Parliament member Vanneste, would be to "fight piracy, encourage the development of the online digital music market in France and benefit legal online music retailers."
How very generous of the French government. I wonder if they offered to pay for the massive development costs Apple would incur of changing their digital rights management to appease the French.
Yeah, right.
iTunes is a proprietary piece of software and Apple has every right to develop it exclusively for its own platform. If the discerning Frenchman wants to put his music files on devices other than Apple's iPod, he should look to another music delivery device besides iTunes. It's as simple as that.
Buying a song through iTunes means entering into a legal contract with Apple. By purchasing the song, the buyer is agreeing to the terms set forth.
Records (LPs) can only play on record players, right? What about Sony's mini-disc technology? Better yet, why aren't the French attacking Nintendo because I can't jam my old copy of Gumshoe into Sony's PlayStation?
Apple made a distinct business decision to be exclusive with its device and its software. They were optimistic they had a proprietary player on their hands with the iPod and that they could gain massive market share by developing a *free* content delivery system which exclusively ran on their device. Much to the chagrin of the French, Apple succeeded. Big.
So what was Apple's response when they learned the French wanted them to open up their billion-dollar product? In summation: "Blow me." Apple decided it would rather not obtain revenue from the entire country of France in order to preserve the integrity and secrecy of their product. A representative from Apple called the bill "state-sponsored piracy."
Uncle Sam representative, Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez, applauded Apple.
"I would compliment that company because we need for companies to also stand up for their intellectual property rights," Gutierrez said. "If we all do that, have the government work with other governments, have companies defend and protect their own intellectual property, then we'll be able to make more progress on a worldwide basis."
In reality, the French government just screwed over its own citizens in the name of "encouraging the development of the online digital music market in France."
The pathway to hell is indeed paved with good intentions. If the French understood the real impact of this law, they would find that legislation like this actually promotes piracy.
Per Weird News: Apple said the law, which it opposes, would likely actually increase its sales of iPod music players. "IPod sales will likely increase as users freely upload their iPods with 'interoperable' music which cannot be adequately protected," the company said.
Doesn't the French government have better things to do? Maybe they can force musicians to list the sheet music of their songs in their albums, or even force restaurants to open source their recipes?
The above work is the opinion of the author,
and not necessarily that of the Prometheus Institute.
