Quote:
"Under the latest version of the proposed law, people who download material illegally would be subject to a fine of 38 euros and those sharing illegally downloaded material with others would be subject to a fine of 150 euros.
People who make and sell software for illegal file-sharing and content downloading would remain subject to a maximum fine of 300,000 euros and prison sentences of up to three years.
Police agents can monitor music exchange Web sites and trace back the email address of beneficiaries by asking the Internet service provider for it through a court order.
The proposed law would also secure private copies of legally downloaded material, but the number of private copies could be limited and have yet to be determined. DVDs are expected to be excluded from the law, Vanneste said."
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(Source:
Reuters)
It's a hyped up thing again.
If you read above what's really going to change about the law in France, you can see that nothing is going to change in the way people use iTunes. The French law seems even to favor the iTunes license model compared to subscription models.
The only difference is that you may hack the DRM. But you don't even have to under current conditions. Right now you can remove DRM by burning music on cd and rip it as MP3.
Things get only a little easier (if you consider selecting, installing and using hacking software easier), but piracy will essentially remain as easy as it is.
So iTunes sales are not going to be hurt. They're even going to have an advance over subscription services. It's practically another blow to Microsoft - hope they did it on purpose!
btw Reuters is a bit of a nasty source sometimes. Apart from hyping up things, the article I quote here also says that music bought on iTunes music can only play on an iPod (which is, q.e.d., untrue).