I followed this issue closely last fall, but haven't watched as closely since, so things may have changed. BUT if I remember correctly, the French bill also requires rightsholders to devise a system of DRM interoperability, and will ban DRM if interoperability is not achieved by a very short deadline (I forget the date, but it's within a year or two of the bill's passage). The result could be the end of DRM on the continent.
Release windows are a big deal in France, I believe, and the change was heralded as a big concession when the bill was passed. Another commenter pointed this out, but the idea is to force more media into legit circulation in more formats, undercutting the motive/rationale for illicit sharing. The DRM thing is part of the same strategy. They're saying to the studios, "OK, we'll give you this nuclear option, but you have to give us more of your stuff, in more formats, more quickly." Sad that this is something the government had to extract, rather than the studios' natural inclination.
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It gets better
I followed this issue closely last fall, but haven't watched as closely since, so things may have changed. BUT if I remember correctly, the French bill also requires rightsholders to devise a system of DRM interoperability, and will ban DRM if interoperability is not achieved by a very short deadline (I forget the date, but it's within a year or two of the bill's passage). The result could be the end of DRM on the continent.
Release windows are a big deal in France, I believe, and the change was heralded as a big concession when the bill was passed. Another commenter pointed this out, but the idea is to force more media into legit circulation in more formats, undercutting the motive/rationale for illicit sharing. The DRM thing is part of the same strategy. They're saying to the studios, "OK, we'll give you this nuclear option, but you have to give us more of your stuff, in more formats, more quickly." Sad that this is something the government had to extract, rather than the studios' natural inclination.