[Ecommerce] NYT: Their Crime: Playing iTunes on Devices Not Named iPod

[Manon Ress]

Their Crime: Playing iTunes on Devices Not Named iPod

By THOMAS CRAMPTON

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/09/technology/09steal.html?
_r=3D1&ref=3Dtechnology&oref=3Dslogin

Published: October 9, 2006

PARIS, Oct. 8 =97 It took more than 10 minutes to persuade the Paris
police station=92s highest-ranking officer that a crime might have
taken place, but that did not deter J=E9r=F4me Martinez and his two
companions.

After all, the three had marched halfway across the Latin Quarter one
evening in late September, accompanied by about 40 fellow advocates,
waving banners and handing out parking-ticket-style leaflets that
claimed they had committed a number of offenses.

Among their crimes was listening to a song purchased from iTunes on a
device not made by Apple Computer. The group, StopDRM, largely made
up of young computer enthusiasts, was protesting the growing number
of subtle restrictions used to limit the use of legally purchased
songs and videos.

Protection measures, often called digital rights management, or DRM,
are supposed to prevent piracy. But critics of the measures say they
smack of Big Brother-style controls.

France, long concerned with expanding the diversity of global culture
to make room for French offerings, has paid particular attention to
digital controls. This summer, while updating copyright regulations,
France enacted a law intended to force compatibility of digital music
across all devices.

=93France really pushed forward the debate over protection measures,=94
said Ted Shapiro, general counsel for Europe of the Motion Picture
Association, the international arm of the Motion Picture Association
of America.

In the end, the French law strengthened the hand of studios and
record labels by prohibiting a person=92s ability to circumvent
protection measures; it never required songs to be transferred from
one format to the others.

Similar regulations were laid out in the United States by the Digital
Millennium Copyright Act of 1998.

In mounting their protest, members of the group in Paris saw
themselves as foot soldiers of the digital generation battling
against ever-tighter controls over songs, film and all digitized
culture.

Greeted at the police station by almost as many armed riot police
officers as there were protesters, they explained their infractions
to passers-by.

=93Not only did I not use an iPod to listen to an iTunes song, but I
transferred the film =91Blade Runner=92 onto my hand-held movie player,=94
Mr. Martinez, 28, said. =93I am willing to face the consequences of
what they consider an offense.=94

By his own calculation, Mr. Martinez could face a fine of as much as
41,250 euros, or about $52,000, and six months in prison.

Mr. Martinez patiently laid out the case he built against himself,
offering details about his infractions, which included switching
music from one format to another and transferring the DVD=92s to
different players.

=93They say the law is intended to stop piracy, but I am not a pirate,=94
Mr. Martinez said. =93I support artists with legally purchased works,
but I do not want to be forced to use a particular device to play them.=94

The process of switching the music from the Apple or Microsoft
formats to the MP3 format removes all copying restrictions.
Transferring the DVD also requires bypassing protection measures.

Mr. Martinez figured he could face fines of 3,750 euros ($4,663) for
each transfer and 30,000 euros ($37,809) plus as much as to six
months in prison for telling others how to do the same thing.

At that point a policeman, dressed in plain clothes, came out from
behind the line of riot police to escort the three inside the
station, where they could register their offenses.

While the impact of the law=92s push for compatibility across devices
remains unclear, Mr. Shapiro argued against legislating technical
standards. =93The studios do not want to control culture,=94 he said.
=93They want to get a return on investment.=94

More than a week later, Mr. Martinez said, he took the additional
step of sending registered letters to Microsoft and Apple informing
them of his actions, but he still did not know whether a prosecution
would take place.

=93It is a complicated and new issue, so I am not surprised at the slow
reaction,=94 he said. =93Or maybe the police realize that there are more
important things for the government than forcing me to use an iPod
when listening to =91Les Lacs du Connemara.=92 =94

************************************************
Manon Anne Ress
manon.ress@cptech.org,
www.cptech.org

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