Here is the background to this story folks
http://computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&taxonomyName=data_control_and_ip&articleId=9001370&taxonomyId=144A committee convened to determine a compromise draft of a new French copyright law had no trouble reaching a decision Thursday -- after opposition lawmakers walked out of the meeting. The compromise text will be submitted to the French Senate and the French National Assembly for vote on June 30.
The copyright bill provoked controversy with its requirement that companies using DRM (digital rights management) technologies to protect music downloads open up their technology to competitors wishing to create interoperable systems. Apple Computer Inc., operator of the successful iTunes Music Store, accused the National Assembly of "state-sponsored piracy" when deputies voted to give music buyers freedom to listen to tracks they had purchased on the equipment of their choice.
The bill, formally titled "Authors' rights and related rights in an information society," had a stormy passage through the Senate and the Assembly, in part because the government used emergency procedures to limit each house to a single reading of the bill instead of the usual two. The drafts of the bill voted by each house differed significantly, obliging lawmakers to convene Thursday's commission of 12 members drawn from government and opposition sides of both houses to work out the differences.
However, four opposition representatives deserted the commission meeting after only an hour of discussion, according to socialist deputy Christian Paul, one of those who walked out.
The opposition members left after government representatives presented 55 previously undiscussed amendments to the bill at the opening of the commission meeting.
I dont think walking out of discussion was in the best interests of the French consumer but lets move on...
http://computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&taxonomyName=data_control_and_ip&articleId=9001468&taxonomyId=144Free software campaigner Richard Stallman said French youth should protest against a draft law on copyright that will be voted on Friday.
The bill threatens their freedom to watch DVDs using free software, and is designed to make French citizens submit to the will of media companies, he said, delivering the closing keynote address at the Paris Capitale du Libre conference on Monday night.
Asked what could stop the law, Stallman replied: "Thousands of French youth in the streets."
They don't have long to organize their protests, since Friday is the last day of the parliamentary session before the long summer vacation. Both houses of the French parliament will vote on the bill on that day: the Senate in the morning, the National Assembly in the afternoon. The bill, formally titled "Authors' rights and related rights in an information society," is also known by its French abbreviation, DADVSI.
"Those who don't recognize freedom are in the process of losing it," he said. "We can see that here, with the DADVSI law."
"It will be illegal to watch a DVD using free software," he said, because of the bill's provisions on the development of software to implement DRM (digital rights management) systems.
I hope French users take the opportunity to make their voices heard on this issue and phone the politicians todayand tomorrow, freedom is something you have to defend.
