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France Hostile To Open Source Software?
Posted by
Zonk
on Fri Dec 02, 2005 04:05 PM
from the no-frog-jokes dept.
from the no-frog-jokes dept.
AdamWeeden writes "According to the Free Software Foundation of France the French Department of Culture is telling free (as in speech) software providers that 'You will be required to change your licenses ... You shall stop publishing free software,' and warn they are ready 'to sue free software authors who will keep on publishing source code.'" From the post: "It appears that publishing Free Software giving access to culture is about to become a counterfeiting criminal offence. Will SACEM sue France Télécom R&D research labs for having published Maay and Solipsis (P2P pieces of software used to exchange data)? Up to this point, the rather technical debate surrounding the issues addressed by DADVSI bill (copyright and neighbouring rights in the information society) makes one ask: Just how much control do the Big Players in the field of culture want to seize? It now looks like years of quibbling have put an end to compromises." More information on the DADVSI bill is available at Infos-du-net.com. They've come a long way since last year.
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French PM Unreceptive To RMS 534 comments
An anonymous reader writes "Six month after the publication of very bad amendments to French DRM law proposal, Richard Stallman has been pushed back by the chief of security team of French Prime minister.
On Friday 9th of June 2006 at 3.30pm, Richard Stallman, president of Free Software Foundation, led a delegation composed by Frédéric Couchet (Free Software Foundation France) and Christophe Espern (EUCD.INFO initiative) to meet the French Prime minister in order to talk about the French DRM law proposal and to deliver the EUCD.INFO petition signed by more than 165,000 French residents. Richard Stallman and his friends were pushed back by the chief of security team. "
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Is there a French word for "Backroom Deal"? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Is there a French word for "Backroom Deal"? (Score:5, Interesting)
Litterally, I think, "backstage swindle".
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typo'ed! (Score:3, Insightful)
With an "o", sorry.
Re:Is there a French word for "Backroom Deal"? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Affaire Americaine (Score:4, Insightful)
It can't possibly become law. It's the "bad bill". The "good bill" is in there somewhere.
For software companies to push to ban open source is a bit like publishing companies pushing government to ban blogs and school essays because they threaten their ability to sell books.
Another aspect is that this also threatens the business interests of the companies that use open source in their business such as IBM and Novell. I'm sure they won't take this nonsense from the French government. Have they sent a letter to IBM in France threatening to sue them yet?
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Nice to see... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Nice to see... (Score:5, Funny)
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Re:Nice to see... (Score:3, Insightful)
Toute votre base sont appartiennent à nous (Score:5, Funny)
il n'y aura aucun logiciel libre en France !
Que dites-vous? (Score:3, Funny)
Quelqu'un nous a établis la bombe. (Score:4, Funny)
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Re:Toute votre base sont appartiennent à nous (Score:4, Funny)
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Re:Toute votre base sont appartiennent à nous (Score:4, Funny)
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I'm not too worried... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:I'm not too worried... (Score:5, Funny)
What about Greenpeace [wikipedia.org]?
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Actually they lost there as well. (Score:3, Interesting)
Made New zealand rapid about anti-nuclear.
They where anti nuclear before the sinking, buit the pretty much cemented it.
Finally:
"Operation SATANIC was a public relations disaster.."
you think? who the hell allowed it to be called that? I mean, it could have brought world peace, and that name still would have made it a public relations nightmare.
That's it! (Score:4, Funny)
Re:That's it! (Score:5, Funny)
Good luck on the whole croissants thing -- looks like the others have already fallen by the wayside.
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Re:That's it! (Score:5, Funny)
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Bah. (Score:3, Informative)
I love the Internet, though... (Score:5, Informative)
Re:I love the Internet, though... (Score:5, Funny)
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jesus fucking christ (Score:5, Informative)
Re:jesus fucking christ (Score:5, Insightful)
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Re:jesus fucking christ (Score:5, Insightful)
Agreed, but saying "the goverment is examining a bill proposed by the french MPAA" is very different from saying "French Department of Culture is telling free (as in speech) software providers that 'You will be required to change your license".
Especially when you quote an article that says "SNEP and SCPP have told Free Software authors:", you can't quote an FSF article and replace "MPAA" by "the Goverment" in an article posted on Slashdot's main page, its fucking crazy!
That's the image of the media these days, but I expected something better from slashdot.
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Re:jesus fucking christ (Score:3, Informative)
See the [1] there? In TFA it refers to this [fsffrance.org]. According to the Google Translation [google.com], the problem is a proposed amendment being added (seemingly at the last minute; damn goofy translations) to a bill called DADVSI which is nearly ready to pass. In American terms, we call this a "rider" and it's how all the devious crap gets through the system.
So
Actually... (Score:5, Informative)
Still a bad trend in any event
Re:Actually... (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Actually... (Score:3, Insightful)
But why is open source code even mentioned? I don't understand the connection. And the original article is vague and shitty.
Re:Actually... (Score:5, Insightful)
Imagine you use Firefox to download a DRM'ed Windows Media Video file.
Firefox would have to respect the copy prohibition embedded in that
Now imagine Firefox DOES respect the copy prohibition. Since Firefox is Free Software, it can be modified so it WON'T respect the prohibition.
As such, it would be illegal to use it.
These two situations are an example of what that law would turn illegal.
If you dig to a lower level, maybe the network card driver should analise the content, I think.
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Mandriva? (Score:3, Insightful)
Have they thought about this at all?
It's France. (Score:3, Funny)
Ça c'est fucké... (Score:3, Insightful)
That is the most fubar'd proposed bit of IP legislation I have ever heard...
If you want to give free access to your own IP, why the devil should it be against the law?
This is bizarre... I cannot think of an industry outside music and movies that would even think of lobbying for such legislation in any nation... Hell, Wall Street uses a lot of OSS, and I imagine that the Euro-zone financial giants do as well.
This is quite possibly the most myopic bit of IP legislation I have ever seen.
Wow (Score:5, Insightful)
We are NOT anti Free Software (Score:5, Informative)
Let me tell you that the editorial's title ("France Hostile To Open Source Software?") is very misleading for a very simple reason: the anti Free Software statements have been made by the SNEP and SCPP, which are --guest what-- 2 lobbying groups created by various music companies. Here is a small list of companies belonging to those groups: Sony BMG, EMI, Universal, Warner Music France, Walt Disney Company, etc. Complete lists can be found on their websites:
Those 2 lobbying groups are obviously anti-P2P (and they say it clearly on their respective websites) and that explains totally why they are so anti Free Software, knowing that BitTorrent as well as other popular P2P tools are Free Softwares. But in no way whatsoever have the French in general, or the France Government, made any anti Free Software statements. We all remember [slashdot.org] those various stories [slashdot.org] that prove quite the contrary !
As a supporter of Free Software, and french citizen, I am quite sad to see this story posted on Slashdot. It just makes people have a bad opinion about us :(
better french translation (Score:3, Informative)
from http://www.infos-du-net.com/actualite/5760-loi-DA
The law covers "the act of circumventing technical measures (of protection) or making available methods permitting such circumvention, understood that these methods have a limited commercial purpose or a limited use for purposes other than circumvention."
So, the law, if passed, will make it illegal to circumvent these protections, to make software that is capable of circumventing or that makes it easier to circumvent, its possession, promotion of such a system, communication for the same purpose, all with a penalty of 300 000 euros and 3 years in prison.
from http://www.infos-du-net.com/actualite/5837-logici
"You will stop the publication of software [...] [We are ready to] pursue the authors of Free software who continue to divulge their source code [...]". On 18 nov 2005, at the Culture ministry, the SACEM took the world to court.
SACEM is attacking Free software? This is not a fantasy, it's a reality supported by SNEP and SCPP, two other powerful defenders of music and the rights of authors in France. But where is the connection between these different guardians of culture and software? The answer is simply the vote on the amendment "VU/SACEM/BSA/FT Division Contenus" of the DADVSI law that we've talked so much about these last few weeks.
[...]
Pressure on the government:
The last meeting of the Commission Sirinelli of the CSPLA (superior advisors on intellectual property) finally ended in an agitated debate with three powerful organizations opposed against the advocates for Free software.
For Christophe Espern, the representative of Creative Commons France and co-founder of EUCD.INFO, the debate was nonsensical. "How can people pretend to defend culture and at the same time seek to stop the only software that allows everyone to access it? In my opinion, the contradiction is obvious: their intention is to control the public; culture is just a pretext."
But for SNEP and SCPP the objective is simple and clear: "You will change your licenses".
For whatever reason, the government is maintaining that the adoption of this bill is "urgent", which brings it to the forefront of debate and gives it priority treatment. As far as why it's so urgent - some people are asking why it's so urgent to pass a plan on intellectual property when the social issues related to the riots requires a national debate - nothing seems to justify this sudden interest in a subject unless it's the economic pressure of these powerful groups.
The amendment didn't have to be proposed immediately, but a special meeting was held on Nov 25, and the decision now rests in the hands of the Parliament.
*** This post is under CC-BY. Please feel free to edit/improve it***
The SlashDUPE effect (Score:5, Informative)
The French government is NOT attacking free software. Rather groups within the entertainment industry are attacking P2P software that is distributed for free. This is a copyright infringement case. The fact that the industry goons are attacking free software is incidental. What is particularly telling is the way that this article is written. The author talks about "access to culture" when what he's really talking about is the ability to freely violate copyright law. Someone who wasn't paying close attention might mistakenly assume that the "culture" in question is in fact the free software that is under attack. I'm sure that this confusion is quite intentional.
The slashdot editors seem to be vulnerable to propaganda that plays upon their own fears. I could probably create a fake site with a story declaring that the RIAA had begun hiring contract killers to execute the defendants in their copyright suits and slashdot would publish a link to it.
Forget the slashdot effect, cases like this deserve a name all their own, the SlashDUPE effect.
Lee
Ok, some much needed clarification... (Score:5, Informative)
What the story really is:
- Content industry pressures Europe into having their own version of the american DMCA, the EUCD. It passes.
- The EUCD, as a European directive, needs to be transcribed into every EU member state law.
- France is late transcribing the EUCD into national law and gets fined several times about it.
- The French government starts transcribing EUCD requirements into national law, and gets "friendly advice" about how to do it from (basically) Vivendi Universal and the (influential) french movie & arts industry, and none from the (non vocal and lower influence ) french tech & net industry.
- The EUCD has mostly the same provisions as the DMCA (don't break DRMs, etc) , but the French content industry (backed by US DRM solutions vendors) wants to go further : make DRM support mandatory for basically all software that enables peer-to-peer file swapping, including audio streaming software (to plug the Stationripper hole)
It is that step further (making DRM mandatory) which is inherently incompatible with Open Source software, and threatens to make things like Icecast illegal, that has brought up a stir.
The bill is scheduled for parliament vote on December 22th. More info at http://eucd.info/ [eucd.info]
*ahem* (Score:5, Informative)
As for this legislation, it seems to outlaw free software using the internet, under the notion that free software can be modified to remove restrictions on what you do with copyrighted material.
I feel disdain even saying these things to you. I doubt anyone here is familiar with the French Constitution, which requires laws to be reviewed by the Constitutional Committee before they can be enforced. The CC includes former Presidents and legal minds NOT involved in politics. It's kind of like a pre-emptive Supreme Court, and it would almost certainly not approve.
Of course, the likelihood of this amendment passing is low. There was a fuss about this in the U.S., too, when DRM first started being a big issue.
Trust me, the Ministry of Culture is laughed at by most of the government. Considering that the French government is encouraging open-source software (trust me, I know, I have worked with IT professionals in France on database conversions), and that OSS contributes to France's economy significantly, I very very seriously doubt this will be an issue.
I guess maybe I should go on an America-bashing tirade because of your proposed amendments to variously ban gay marriage and rename yourselves "The United States of Earth."
Online Petition (Score:5, Interesting)
Nope. (Score:5, Informative)
Re:What is "access to culture? (Score:5, Informative)
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Re:What is "access to culture? (Score:5, Informative)
They say it's based on some rejected american law called CBDTPA (check wikipedia for a description) which aimed at disallowing all non DRM-enabled technology.
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Re:They wont stop... (Score:3, Informative)
What the fuck!? (Score:3, Informative)
Would this mean they would be using illegal software?
Re:Solution 1 (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Interesting (Score:3, Insightful)
When America is in the wrong, it's the patriotic duty of all Americans to criticize America that she might right herself.
all the time for being a bunch of corporate shills
I assume you are referring to Congress. If so, are you saying they aren't a bunch of corporate shills?
Meanwhile, our french friends are hostile to it.
In this one instance. Albeit, this appears to be quite a doozy of an instance. There's a difference between consistently and systematic
Re:Interesting (Score:5, Funny)
As it should. Damn those French racists! :)
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Re:What do they mean by Culture? (Score:4, Informative)
My French is really rusty (but better than Babelfish?), but a bit of digging online found another source saying this: "L'amendement "VU / SACEM / BSA / FT Division Contenus" au projet de loi DADVSI cherche à assimiler à un délit de contrefaçon l'édition, la diffusion et la promotion de tout logiciel susceptible d'être utilisé pour mettre à disposition des informations protégées par le droit d'auteur et n'intégrant pas un dispositif de contrôle et de traçage de l'usage privé."
Which I translate vaguely as: "The "VU / SACEM / BSA / FT Division Contenus" of the DADVSI legal project hopes to gather under the offense of counterfeiting the spread or promotion of all software susceptible to being used to disseminate information protected by copyright, and which does not incorporate DRM." source [journaldunet.com]
I could be wrong, though...rusty, as I said. In any case, it doesn't seem that different from other laws passed elsewhere, and the firefox/OpenOffice people could relax? Someone else can confirm/refute.
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Re:I RTFA and I still confused. (Score:5, Informative)
The DADVSI law project is really the adaptation of the EUCD European directive, which is itself the european DMCA. Yeah, we can thank our european leaders who enjoy copying stupid american laws like DMCA and SW patents... Anyway..
While keeping all the badness of DMCA (forbidden reverse engineering, etc.), there's something more: if your software allows DRMs to be circumvented, then it is illegal. The problem with Free Software is that, by nature, you can change it, so DRMs could always be circumvented. So the "obvious" solution to those RIAA-like (SACEM & co) fuckers is to make them illegal.
There's nothing about "french culture" here, really, and please, French people don't have much in common with Quebeckers (I'm seeing many analogies that are totally out of place). When they (i.e: SACEM & co) talk about culture, they talk about Hollywood movies and the latest Madonna hit just as much as french movies & music. It's just an anti-piracy measure.
The problem is that their lobby is strong. They just are the same RIAA-like bastards... they should shoot themselves, the world would be better off.
Not much to add, as a french free software developper, you can imagine I'm quite angry at them (and at our government) right now (and I've been for some time... if only it could be avoided like software patents, but I have very little faith here).
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