Surprises

Surprises

by Mike Masnick




French Flip Flop Again On File Sharing

from the make-up-your-minds dept

Earlier this week, it looked like French politicians had given in to the recording industry and ditched their proposal to basically legalize file-sharing in France. However, it would appear that a public outcry has made the government reverse course once again and bring back an amendment with a global license that would allow file sharing. The article is a little short on some of the details, but it also notes the new amendment would strengthen copy protection technology (probably by making circumvention illegal), by basically saying that fair use is no excuse to break copy protection.

15 Comments | Leave a Comment..

 
 

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  1. Mar 9th, 2006 @ 5:06am

    No Subject Given

    by Mike

    Porn!

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  2. Mar 9th, 2006 @ 5:26am

    Re: No Subject Given

    by Anonymous Bastard

    Douchebag!

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  3. Mar 9th, 2006 @ 5:48am

    Government

    by Antimatter

    There appears to be all kinds of good and bad in this proposal. What surprised me the most, though, was the fact that "a public outcry" caused them to change course. Living in the USA, I'm not used to the government working for (or even listening to) the people. Maybe our government can take look across the Atlantic and see what they should be trying to do over here.

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  4. Mar 9th, 2006 @ 6:31am

    Re: Government

    by Shoal Creek

    Yea, it's pretty bad when one government that professes to be a socialist republic is more responsive to hearing outcries that freedom is violated than one that claims to be a freedoms-based constitutional republic.

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  5. Mar 9th, 2006 @ 6:35am

    Re: Government

    by Lazy Ghost

    Actually, a "public outcry" would cause a change in course... it just has to be an election year!

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  6. Mar 9th, 2006 @ 7:09am

    Re: Government

    by TESTUDO

    ROFL!

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  7. Mar 9th, 2006 @ 7:12am

    Re: Government

    by annonymous coward

    I thought it was an election year......

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  8. Mar 9th, 2006 @ 7:28am

    legal protection

    by discojohnson

    i think that the law is being pounded from both sides, making it more of a fair trade than it would come to be in the states. FTA, "The latest draft lightens the penalties for those caught pirating music or movies online" while at the same time "it also strengthens legal protection for anti-copy technologies known as DRMs, shielding them from challenges under French laws that grant consumers the right to make copies of music and film for private use." sounds pretty fair to me, from a each-side giving some viewpoint. the other viewpoint, however, is what are the ways in which the protection was strengthened?--and what will this new bill negate from the current fair use laws?

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  9. Mar 9th, 2006 @ 7:40am

    Re: Government

    Well the people burn cars there they just figure that since we are smart enough not to destroy our own things we're dumb enough to keep letting them rough us around. The just haven't yet realized that in the long run most Politicians who wind up in the mass majority's way get run over. Sometimes literally...

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  10. Mar 9th, 2006 @ 7:46am

    Re: Government

    by dorpus

    Americans consider themselves an optimistic people, but they make some rather pessimistic assumptions in espousing the right to bear arms.

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  11. Mar 9th, 2006 @ 11:49am

    Re: Government

    by Alex

    pretty bad when one government that professes to be a socialist republic


    The current French government is right of centre (both the President and Parliament are conservative), although in the US its policies would probably still be thought of as fairly "liberal" (American sense --- in France "liberal" is a term of abuse to mean extreme supporter of the free-market).

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  12. Mar 9th, 2006 @ 11:06pm

    Re: Government

    by Neonghost

    The french will surrender to anything, including themselves. This isn't the poloticions listening, it's them wetting their pants at the sound of jack boots.

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  13. Mar 9th, 2006 @ 11:08pm

    Re: Government

    by Anonymous Coward

    Extreme supporter of a free market? Liberal?

    It's a funny world, isn't it? Extreme supporters (in theory) in the US would be called conservative, or at least republican.

    Of course, theory gives way to their true ways, which is crony capitalism.. at least, for some of the party, but thankfully not all.

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  14. Mar 11th, 2006 @ 2:15am
    by Jobe

    Hopefully it will pass, and maybe the recording industry will see that they need to change there business model.

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  15. Mar 12th, 2006 @ 3:16pm

    DRM requirements

    by Sal

    I read in another article on this topic that another part of the legislative reform is to require online music stores (ie. Apple and other Windows based stores) to ensure their DRM will work on all devices which would be an unbelievably nice change... wish we could have that in Australia - here all Windows based stores only allow 2 CDs to be burnt and 2 decives to be used for each purchase where as the Apple DIM allows for 5 computers to be used and unlimited CDs to be burnt... guess the Windows based stores would have to alter their DRM to allow greater uses or face market backlash

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

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