Room full of pirates
What’s with downloading and sharing files? Why do people still defend pirates? In fact, what is copyright? And, prison for software developers?
These questions, and others, will be tackled FACIL’s meeting on downloading, copyright and the recent infamous DADVSI French law (copyright and “neighboring law” in the information society) on August 11.
Under discussion will be this [...]
French Council: Individuals Can’t Bypass DRM
The French Constitutional Council has raised concerns and removed some key measures from the long awaited copyright bill, which was adopted by France’s two houses of Parliament June 30.
The Council, which is responsible for ensuring that legislative proposals comply with the national constitution before they are incorporated into law, has removed from the bill the [...]
France’s copyright overhaul under pressure
France’s Constitutional Court has ruled that certain sections of the country’s controversial new copyright law are unconstitutional.
The principle effect of the court’s 12-page legal review is to ensure that Apple will receive monetary compensation if it is forced to licence the DRM technology that it uses to restrict playback of iTunes Music Store downloads to [...]
DADVSI / Apple Law update : French Constitutional Court Decision strengthen the Law against the Publ
The French Constitutional Court just released its decision about the DADVSI. The objective of this law was to transpose the 2001/29/CE Directive to protect Digital Rights Management in the same fashion as the US based Digital Millenium Copyright Act did in 1996.
The Law was severely criticized for being extremely hard, but the decision of the [...]
French researchers find OpenOffice more vulnerable than Office
Computer security experts at France’s Department of Defense have concluded that OpenOffice is more vulnerable to security problems than its closed-source counterpart, Microsoft Office, according to a report at ZDNet France.
The article, published earlier in July, said that cryptography experts were able to create viruses which compromised the security of OpenOffice.
“We can affirm that OpenOffice [...]
France to offer low-cost PCs to families
Low-income French families will be equipped with a computer and an Internet connection for 1 euro ($1.27) a day under a new government proposal.
Families who sign up will receive a computer, a high-speed connection, software and a class on how to use the equipment, officials said Tuesday after an inter-ministerial meeting.
The program is expected to [...]
French Pirate Party launch
France has become the newest member of the world’s fastest-growing political party.
Le Parti Pirate has joined the copyright reform Piratpartiet whose Swedish founders and members say they’re, “tired of being deemed a criminals and terrorists by the system for sharing a few measly files for no financial gain or loss to anyone,” as The Inquirer [...]
French lawmakers approve ‘iTunes law’
French lawmakers gave final approval Friday to legislation that could force Apple Computer Inc. to make its iPod and iTunes Music Store compatible with rivals’ music players and online services.
Both the Senate and the National Assembly, France’s lower house, voted in favor of the copyright bill, which some analysts said could cause Apple Computer Inc. [...]
Virgin France cops €600k piracy fine
Virgin France has been slapped with a €600,000 fine for illegally downloading Madonna’s Hung Up for resale on its site – in the process ignoring an “exclusive deal reached by Warner Music France with France Telecom and Orange”, the BBC reports.
France Telecom had inked a €500,000 deal with Warner, which allowed it to exclusively offer [...]
French Google Earth rival crashes and burns
A French alternative to Google Earth – offering hi-res coverage of the entire country – went into meltdown last Friday shortly after its launch and is still unavailable due to a stampede of punters eager to avail themselves of the free service.
French prez Jacques Chirac chaired the official launch of Geoportail, Yahoo! reports, and quickly [...]
