France has given the thumbs-up to the defanged version of a controversial law that would have forced Apple Computer to open up its iTunes digital rights management to players other than its iPod.
The Dadvsi law, which originally included provisions to allow people to crack DRM protections and oblige Apple to interoperate with its rivals’ music download services and vice versa, gained the approval of French lawmakers yesterday.
Now the bill gives Apple and its rivals a “get out of jail free card”: While interoperability is still mandated, it doesn’t have to be enforced if the online song shops have the permission of the rights holders–musicians and record labels, for example–to use DRM.
The watered-down law has drawn fierce debate in the French parliament. A group of French politicians signed an open letter to the commission in charge of reviewing the bill, demanding that full interoperability be written into the text of the bill. Others refused to take part in the commission, on the grounds that their strong opinions on the issue would not be heard, and they didn’t want to appear to support the commission’s stance by being involved.
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