Behind France's iPod law

It hasn't passed both houses of France's legislature yet, but it has stirred up some interesting and important discussion about digital music and consumer rights. The Los Angeles Times has an editorial today that suggests the motivation behind a law meant to open up iTunes to all music players: "The rationale for the measure, two [National] Assembly deputies told Reuters, was to 'prevent the emergence of a monopoly in the supply of online culture'." That makes sense (even though France often argues for *French* cultural protectionism), because both the Times and a Washington Post commentary say there's an obvious workaround plenty of consumers use anyway. Post tech writer Rob Pegoraro explains that "you can burn a copy-restricted download to an audio CD, then copy that CD's music right back to the computer in an open, unrestricted format. All the big music-download stores allow this untidy workaround." Rob thinks Apple – which, with its 70% market share, could probably afford to pull out of France - should just license its FairPlay copy-restriction tech to other online music providers. Because if laws don’t open up iTunes, hackers will. "Trying to stop a mass-market, proprietary format from being deciphered by motivated, skilled outsiders is like pushing water uphill with a sponge." [For more, see my item on this last week.]