14 DAY TRIAL // The controversial French law that proposed to force technology companies to open up their DRM and make it inter-compatible has been significantly changed.
The highly criticized bill posed a significant threat to the established companies in this sector, especially Apple, who would have been forced to open up their FairPlay DRM to everyone else. So far, the DRM has been the key reason for the seamless integration between iTunes, the iTunes Music Store and the iPod, and it was little surprise that Apple was less than excited about the law, stating it was "state-sponsored piracy." Now, the law has been significantly modified, with many of the original open-DRM provisions removed or rewritten.
In its original incarnation, "information needed for interoperability" covered "technical documentation and programming interfaces needed to obtain a copy in an open standard of the copyrighted work, along with its legal information." In its current incarnation, the law reads "technical documentation and programming interfaces needed to obtain a protected copy of a copyrighted work." This is a major change, as this 'protected' version cannot be played back in any device whatsoever, unless it is compatible with the protection scheme, a significant step away from the originally intended interoperability.
Also, in the original law, the only requirement for receiving the information needed for interoperability was to meet the cost of logistics of delivering the information. In the updated version, anyone wanting to build a player will have to take a license on "reasonable and non discriminatory conditions, and an appropriate fee." In addition, when using the information attained under such a license, you will have to "respect the efficiency and integrity of the technical measure."
These changes will now have to be voted on, and the law will probably undergo further transformations, until it sees the light of day, however, it is clear that the law that will emerge will be a far cry from the one that was originally proposed.