Norway declares Apple's iTunes illegal

[vansmack]

Not that I've been harping on this from day one or anything, but one nation has finally done something about it.
 
 Norway declares Apple's iTunes illegal
 
 By David Ibison in Stockholm, Emiko Terazono in London and Richard Waters in San Francisco
 Financial Times
 Updated: 12:12 a.m. PT Jan 25, 2007
 
 Apple was dealt a blow in Europe on Wednesday when Norway's powerful consumer ombudsman ruled that its iTunes online music store was illegal because it did not allow downloaded songs to be played on rival technology companies' devices.
 
 The decision is the first time any jurisdiction has concluded iTunes breaks its consumer protection laws and could prompt other European countries to review the situation.
 
 The ombudsman has set a deadline of October 1 for the Apple to make its codes available to other technology companies so that it abides by Norwegian law. If it fails to do so, it will be taken to court, fined and eventually closed down.
 
 Apple, whose iTunes dominates the legal download market, has its proprietory system Fairplay. Songs and tunes downloaded through iTunes are designed to work with Apple's MP3 player iPod, but cannot be played on rival devices.
 
 Torgeir Waterhouse, senior adviser to the Norwegian Consumer Council, who originally launched the complaint, told the Financial Times he was in negotiations with pan-European consumer groups to present a unified position on iTunes' legality.
 
 Sweden and Finland have already backed Norway's stance, but have yet to take action, and Mr Waterhouse said the campaign was joined on Wednesday by Germany and France.
 
 "We are satisfied the Federation of German Consumer Organisations and the French UFC Que Choisir are addressing this important issue. It means that iTunes is now being told by more than 100m European consumers to offer them a fair deal," he said.
 
 Â© The Financial Times Ltd 2007. "FT" and "Financial Times" are trademarks of the Financial Times.Copyright The Financial Times Ltd. All rights reserved.
 
 URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16793043/

[Herr Professor Doktor Doom]

Right on!  Freakin hegemonists.   :mad:

[J'Mal]

You don't HAVE to buy their product if you don't like the way it works.  You know the Zune is available in brown, dont'cha?
 
 What has Norway's oil based socialism contributed recently to the betterment of mankind anyway?

[sweetcell]

with any luck, the complete and utter destruction of Apple Inc.

[vansmack]

J'Mal quipped:[/b]
 You don't HAVE to buy their product if you don't like the way it works.

No matter how much you love Apple, it's hard to argue against the fact that they are using DRM and contract restirctions in their End User License Agreement to lock consumers into Appleâ??s proprietary systems.  That's precisely what consumer protection laws are supposed to protect the consumer against, and that's what Norway is doing here, which if successful, could cause a chain reaction throught the EU.
 
 If you wish to find out more about how Apple is limiting rights consumers that are granted by copyright law by making users agree to limited use in its EULA, I highly recommend this White Paper from Harvard's Digital Media Project.

[sonickteam2]

you dont HAVE to go to bars that allow smoking either, but we see how that ones turning out!

[J'Mal]

"consumer protection" my ass.
 
 more like protection for people who can't make a competitive product.
 
 if you are uncomfortable with the DRM restrictions, don't buy the product.  nobody is forcing you to buy an ipod.  you can go get a zune, or a zen, or a sansa, or an old diamond rio.
 
 remember how consumers protected themselves from Sony's ATRAC DRM?  That's right.  They didn't buy it.  Problem solved.

[vansmack]

And remember when Sony had to pay reprimands and replace all of the CDs?  How quickly we forget....

[godsshoeshine]

isnt norway the country that hosts all of the torrent sites

[Shadrach]

What's stopping people from just burning their itunes downloads onto CD's and then loading that music onto whatever devise they want? Sure it's another step, but it's a way around the problem that's rather simple.

[vansmack]

That's a violation of your End User Agreement.

[azaghal1981]

It also results in lower quality files.

[Frank Gallagher]

What has Norway's oil based socialism contributed recently to the betterment of mankind anyway?
 
 Well, they haven't brought the world to the brink of world war for a start.
 
 Their country is chocker full of hot chicks who believe in a liberal approach to sex.

[Venerable Bede]

let's not forget that norway is doing what it can to stop whales from taking over the world-
 
 Norway raises whaling kill quota  
 
 Norwegian whalers will be allowed to kill a total of 1,052 minke whales in 2006, an increase of 30%. The quota was raised from 797 - already a record - after a unanimous vote in parliament, the government said.
 
 Norway resumed commercial whaling in 1993 despite a worldwide ban, sparking condemnation from many nations.
 
 Oslo insists that the north Atlantic waters used for whaling sustain a large population of minke whales, which it says are not endangered.
 
 The increase comes after the second consecutive season when whalers have not managed to land their entire quota of minke.
 
 'Meaningless provocation'
 
 "The quota for 2006 is composed of a basic annual quota of 745 and the addition of unused quotas in 2004 and 2005," the ministry of fisheries and coastal affairs said in a statement.
 
 It described the model used for calculating the whaling quota as "conservative".
 
 "According to scientists, the quota is within the interval that gives adequate safety regarding the conservation of the minke whale stocks that we target," the statement added.
 
 Minke whales can grow up to nine metres (30ft) long.
 
 The International Whaling Commission banned commercial whaling in 1986, but Norway has rejected the ban.
 
 The country's whaling association said the quota was acceptable as part of a "managed ecosystem".
 
 Greenpeace described the quota increase as a "meaningless provocation of the international community".
 
 "It is right to hunt whales as part of management based on the ecosystem"
 
 Jan Kristiansen
 Norwegian Whalers' Association
 
 
 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4551258.stm