Apple’s DRM is illegal in Norway
Posted by Dennis Sellers 
Jan 24, 2007 at 11:52am
The Consumer Ombudsman in Norway has ruled that Apple’s digital rights management lock on its iPod device and iTunes software is illegal, according to the Out-law.com web site. This follows the news that Germany and France are joining Norway’s action against Apple.
The Norwegian Consumer Council, Forbrukerradet, lodged a complaint with the Ombudsman on behalf of Norwegian consumers claiming that the Fairlplay DRM (digital rights management) system acted against the interests of consumers. It said that the fact that the technology stopped songs bought from iTunes being played on any player other than an iPod broke the law in Norway. The Ombudsman has now agreed, according to Torgeir Waterhouse, senior advisor at the Consumer Council.
“It doesn’t get any clearer than this. Fairplay is an illegal lock-in technology whose main purpose is to lock the consumers to the total package provided by Apple by blocking interoperability,” Waterhouse told Out-law.com. “For all practical purposes this means that iTunes Music Store is trying to kill off one the most important building blocks in a well functioning digital society, interoperability, in order to boost its own profits.”
MacManic@gmail.com Says:
Gotta dissagree with you there.
Fairplay was suppossed to protect the artist, not the distributer. It doesn’t do anything possitive for the consumer, the label or the artists except creating an “inconvienience”.
DRM is evil and soon the labels will soon be forcing Apple to change it’s ways. FairPlay to them for trying it though.
There is more going on than a natural monopoly for Apple, it’s about freedom and chice that Apple don’t want us to have. I choose apple because I want to but I also want the right not to choose Apple (should my phone out pod an iPod).
“I want the right to have babies.”
m
Posted on January 24, 2007
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Dennis Sellers
Dennis has been a newspaper editor/reporter (seven years) and teacher (seven years). He has over 4,000 magazine, newspaper and online articles to his credit. He has also covered the Mac and tech industries for over a decade for such online publications as MacCentral, MacMinute and now MacsimumNews.
J. Scott Anderson Says:
Imagine that, the company wants to boost its profits. However, FairPlay does not lock them in. They can burn a CD and then rip it to any player that want to put it on. It is an inconvenience but certainly does not lock anyone in.
And, since people can get the same exact music from other methods and can use whatever player they want, I don’t see how anyone is locked in. No one is forcing consumers to purchase iPods or use the iTMS. It is a better overall experience if you use that combination, but then that is the idea in competing and making money…to give a better product/service/experience so that people buy from you…right?
This sounds more like sour grapes and heavy lobbying by people who are mad that they cannot get people to like their stuff as much as people like the iPods with iTMS. Heck one might even wonder if they are not trying to support piracy if you wanted to stretch a bit and look for a conspiracy.
Posted on January 24, 2007