Saturday, July 01, 2006

Apple iPod in French iTunes Legislation

France adopts toned down version of download music law

The French parliament adopted a new version of a download music law once seen as posing a major threat to the future of online media stores like Apple's iTunes in France.

The law, intended to counter the dominance of industry leaders like Apple or Microsoft in online media stores, aroused bitter opposition in its original form and sparked suggestions Apple might pull its iTunes operation out of France.

In its initial form, the bill would have forced online stores like iTunes to drop barriers that prevent songs it sells being played on portable MP3 devices and computers designed to work with another music store.

At present, songs bought on iTunes can only be played directly on Apple technology like the iPod although they can also be burnt onto CDs.

But after amendments introduced in the Senate, the law allows companies to argue that measures to restrict the technical compatibility of songs or films sold online were undertaken at the request of the authors.

The law, passed without a further reading after a special administrative measure from the Minister of Culture, was condemned by the opposition Socialists and several deputies in the ruling UMP party.

The Socialists said they would seek a ruling by the Constitutional Court.

But the government said it provided adequate rights for both consumers and operators.

"It will allow the development of legal services," Culture Minister Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres said.

Apple's iTunes service is currently the biggest online content store after the runaway success of the iPod player but it faces competition from several rivals including Sony Corp, Dell Inc. and Microsoft.

Thursday, January 01, 2004

STATISTICS LIE AND WHY I HATE THE MEDIA:

No normal pro-Israel person is not upset by the tragic deaths we hear about among Palestinian civilians. When we hear that a Palestinian woman has died, we feel ashamed despite the fact that we are not guilty. Yes, accidents happen in war, but with the Palestinians it seems like everyone being killed is an innocent, pregnant woman. Or maybe that's just the result of egregious media bias.

While it is true that more Palestinians have died in the two years of uprising than Israelis, this is to be expected. Urban gunfights kill people, such as Mohammed al-Dura, the 12-year-old boy who was actually killed by Palestinian shots in 2000. (Of course, Israel was blamed. What did you expect?) While we say the facts behind the numbers lie, the numbers also lie.According to Jerusalem Media & Communications Center, a Palestinian research organization (which isn't too keen on Israel), 37 Palestinian women were killed between September 30, 2000 and May 7, 2002. This is 2.8% of all Palestinians killed in that period. During the identical period, according to figures issued by Israel's Foreign Ministry, 126 Israeli women were murdered by Palestinians. In other words, 25% of the total Israelis murdered were innocent women. Another Palestinian research group, the Palestinian Monitor, recorded that 11.7% of those killed were children under the age of 15. 57.7% of all Israelis killed were under age 15. In other words, three Israeli women were murdered for every Palestinian woman killed.

Where is the outrage in the media? In Europe? Those who stood by as Jews were slaughtered do so again. At each Palestinian death the media mourns, Robert Fisk shakes an angry fist, the world threatens Israel, and innocent folks in Gaza are lovingly profiled by pandering reporters. I'm not saying that attention shouldn't be paid to the unfortunate Palestinian civilian victims of war. But I haven't seen too many reports on what should be reported: The 126 Israeli women (plus however many more have been killed since May 7) who have been butchered. Why don't BBC cameras enter homes in Tel Aviv and show how a family is now struggling to live without its mother? Why doesn't Jerrold Kessel take his CNN crew to meet the parents who lost both an 18-year-old daughter and her grandmother who went out for ice cream? Where is Peter Jennings, where is Tom Brokaw, where is Dan Rather to show the Itamar basketball court sprayed with the blood of three high school students who magnanimously chose to play basketball? Why do we read flattering profiles of suicide bomber Wafa Idris but never of the victims of these murderers? We don't want equal time for our victims. The Israeli people are being murdered, blown up, stabbed, shot at, but the media doesn't see it fit to report.


UPDATE: I should've said that the RATES were disproportionate and not the numbers. I've mentioned it in a correction post, but if you're being referred to here, check that out.