Viva la difference! Uh, never mind
I don't write much about idiots trying to destroy business, even though I live in Costa Rica which seems to take it as a given that this is a good thing. Here we have an idiotic system where you need a 'patenta' to open a restaurant, which in populated areas aren't available anymore from the government. You have to find someone who owns one, and rent it. It's a huge after-government market.
Depending on what kind of restaurant and where you want to open it this could cost you thirty thousand dollars or more for a ten-year rental. I'm told that you can get one for free from the government, if you are in a less populated area, but it is a two year process give or take.
Thus I reprint an AP article via the WSJ about similar idiocy from France, where they are currently protesting a law that will open up the job market for the unemployed.
PARIS -- French lawmakers approved an online copyright bill Tuesday that would require Apple Computer Inc. to break open the exclusive format behind its market-leading iTunes music store and iPod players.The draft law -- which also introduces new penalties for music pirates -- would force Apple, Sony Corp. and others to share proprietary copy-protection technologies so that rivals can offer compatible services and players.
Lawmakers in the National Assembly, France's lower house, approved the bill 296-193. The legislation now has to be debated and voted by the Senate -- a process expected to begin in May.
Apple has so far refused to comment on the bill or on analysts' suggestions that the Cupertino, Calif.-based company might choose to withdraw from the French online music market rather than share the proprietary technology at the heart of its business model. Representatives for Apple France did not return calls Tuesday.
Under the bill, companies would be required to reveal the secrets of hitherto-exclusive copy-protection technologies such as Apple's FairPlay format and the ATRAC3 code used by Sony's Connect store and Walkman players.
That could permit consumers for the first time to download music directly to their iPods from stores other than iTunes, or to rival music players from iTunes France.
The new legislation would also introduce penalties ranging from �38 to �150 ($50 to $180) for those caught pirating music or movies at home and �3,750 ($4,600) for hackers who disable copy-protection systems. Those caught distributing software for online piracy face fines of up to �300,000 ($365,000) and jail terms.
In the spirit of "Who is John Galt?" I hope that Apple just pulls out of France. Only in a post-modern world could the government think it was a good thing to steal the formula for a proprietary system and give it to one's competitors, and then jack up the fines for those prone-to-protest college kids for merely copying a song.
Update: Apple responds and calls the proposed law, rightfully I believe, "state-sponsored piracy." Also, according to an email this morning, "Variety notes that withdrawing from France would not affect Apple's bottom line dramatically, since the French iTunes represents less than 2% of the company's online music business"
Apple Blasts French Move
To Force Opening of iTunes
By NICK WINGFIELD
March 22, 2006 9:57 a.m.
Apple Computer Inc. blasted an effort by French lawmakers that could force Apple to make its iPod and iTunes Music Store work with digital music products from other companies, in the computer maker's first public comment on the proposed law.
Lawmakers in the National Assembly, France's lower house, on Tuesday approved a bill by a vote of 296-193 that aims to require Apple to open the digital-music format used by the iPod and iTunes to other companies, along with similar technologies from other companies like Microsoft Corp. and Sony Corp.
The bill, if it passes into law after going to the French Senate for a vote, could force Apple, of Cupertino, Calif., to make songs it sells through iTunes in France work on digital-music players other than the iPod and, similarly, to allow songs purchased on music sites other than iTunes work on the iPod. Such an outcome would present a challenge to a closed system that has helped Apple strengthen its position in digital music, analysts believe.
But Apple said the French action will result in "state-sponsored piracy" by encouraging French users to seek out illegally copied music.
"If this happens, legal music sales will plummet just when legitimate alternatives to piracy are winning over customers," Apple said in the statement. "IPod sales will likely increase as users freely load their iPods with 'interoperable' music which cannot be adequately protected. Free movies for iPods should not be far behind in what will rapidly become a state-sponsored culture of piracy," the company said.
Analysts on Tuesday speculated that Apple might simply abandon the French market with its music products rather than comply with a law that could prompt similar efforts by other governments.
An Apple spokesman declined to comment on the company's plans beyond the statement.
The legislation � which also introduces new penalties for music pirates � now has to be debated and voted by the Senate, a process expected to begin in May.
Under the bill, companies would be required to reveal the secrets of hitherto-exclusive copy-protection technologies such as Apple's FairPlay format and the ATRAC3 code used by Sony's Connect store and Walkman players. That could permit consumers for the first time to download music directly to their iPods from stores other than iTunes, or to rival music players from iTunes France.
The new legislation would also introduce penalties ranging from �38 to �150 ($50 to $180) for those caught pirating music or movies at home and �3,750 for hackers who disable copy-protection systems. Those caught distributing software for online piracy face fines of up to �300,000 and jail terms.
