What's That Sound?

When the French National Assembly last week approved legislation that would force "interoperability" on Apple, Microsoft and other digital-music providers, much of the commentary focused on whether or not Apple would cease operating in France, rather than give up exclusive rights to its popular iTunes Music Store and iPod technology. That would be a bit premature; the "authors' rights" bill still has to pass the Senate in May. And in any event, the bill seems likely to have little effect on music downloading in France, because comparatively few use iTunes anyway.

While Internet users in other countries seem to be making the shift toward legitimate digital-music purchases, France saw its illegal peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing double in 2005 from the previous year, with legal files representing just 2% of downloads, according to a Dec. 2005 joint study by tech magazine SVM and market research institute GFK. And the bill seems unlikely to affect that behavior. It imposes penalties for illegal downloading, but they're miniscule: slap-on-the-wrist fines of just j38 to j150 for individuals. This probably won't discourage the estimated 8 to 11 million people who download pirated music online.

Some critics maintain that the bill is unenforceable and won't benefit artists. The Association des Audionautes (ADA), a P2P-rights group, slammed the draft law, saying it erodes the notion of private use and criminalizes cultural exchange. Furthermore, as the National Assembly rejected a proposed idea of "global licensing" — a government-set flat fee for unlimited downloading — there is still no mention of how artists would be compensated in the bill. Says the ADA's president, Aziz Ridouan, 17, "I think there really should have been more consultation and time spent on the bill."