News for Friday, 25 May 2007

Yesterday, the State Council announced that the CNIL administration could not prevent the use of tracking systems to identify pirates on P2P networks. The story is a bit complicated for non-French readers, so I will try to give some background. Since 2005, the CNIL (National commission for preserving human rights in the IT world) refused to let Music Majors and other Artist and copyright owner’s representatives and associations to force ISP to install tracking systems to identify users sharing illegal copies of music tracks via the net, and mostly targeting PEP networks. The CNIL was claiming that such tracking systems were not secured enough to prevent their use for any further purpose, while it could also breach into human rights. Music Majors and other associations were asking the State Council to study the legal aspect of this conflict. Yesterday's decision simply force both sides to start negotiating about a way to avoid sharing of illegal copies on the P2P networks, with potentially the use of tracking systems even though they would have to be high secured and controlled otherwise the same Council might consider them breaching the French rights.
While this could appear as a victory for Music Majors might simply be a small victory for an already lost war. While Majors try to convince nation legal authorities that their financial results are so badly impacted by illegal copies shared over the internet; it is also a way for them for not acknowledging their inability to adapt to the new way music is being used/listen by consumers. So, why a small victory? Because the CNIL might agree for tracking systems, but requires so much control and secure steps that it will be almost impossible to use them. But this is one the French side, and one should not forget the text recently adopted by the European Parliament and aiming to harmonize criminal sanctions for the infringement of intellectual property rights in the EU. Indeed, sanctions should apply only to infringements leading to commercial profits, and should exclude piracy committed by private users for personal and non-profit usage. In other words, even though tracking systems in France would identify French users as pirates for sharing illegal copies of music tracks, one would have to prove that they obtain a financial interest from it.
The current mess with Majors pushing for legal actions is the result of the same Majors which introduced DRMs to prevent illegal music sharing, the same DRMs which do allow users to listen the music, purchased legally, the way they want. Maybe Music Majors should seriously reconsider their business model before their offers does not fit with consumer's wishes. This does not imply that piracy on P2P network should not be fought.
At the end, the best solution would probably be what Apple and EMI are trying to do: DRM-free music tracks, giving the opportunity for users to listen the music the way they want, on their iPod, on their cards, etc...

The well-known manufacturer of storage media, RiData, announced its plan to launch mass production of Blu-Ray rewritable (BD-RW) discs and High-Definition DVD rewritable (HD DVD-RW) discs. The storage capacity of such single layer BD-RW media should be 25GB while the HD-DVD-RW will top at 20GB. The price of such media should be around US$10/disc.
As mass production of such media is expected to start during the third quarter of this year, we should not find them in our shops before Autumn. In the mean time, one can try finding a compatible burner, if BD burners are invading the market, it is rather difficult to find a HD-DVD burner...

According to CNews, citing a Russian source, the iPhone will be available in Russia in Autumn 2007, as early as September-October, months ahead of its introduction in Europe. Last comments from Apple indicated that the iPhone should arrive in Europe at the end of the year, probably right on time for Christmas shopping fever.
We can not comment further as we never heard about it before. The market of mobile phones is exploding in Russia, and Apple might well try to offer the iPhone as part of a package for consumers signing their first mobile phone subscription. In most European countries, most mobile phones are sold either with a package when moving to another carrier, or when replacing its old mobile phone for a new model with a special offer from the carrier (remaining more expensive than a new comer/new contract package).
We should have the opportunity to see and maybe test the iPhone at the Apple Expo.

A small music label, Dawg Music, has launched a suit implicating both worldwide Labels and their partners for online music stores. Both labels, Universal Music Group and Warner Music, are said to have negotiated and settled agreements with online music stores partners for Grisman's library without owning the rights to do so, as Dawg Music owns the copyrights. Claims are so broad that all the targets of the lawsuit, including Apple via its iTunes Store, would have to compensate Dawg Music should it win its battle in the central California court: $150,000 for every work whose copyright was violated... in other words millions of US$.
Without commenting further, as we do not know much more about this story, it is clear that Apple has been associated with this class-action to increase impact of this news among news networks. Apple should further recruit resources for its Legal department...

Apple released the Security Update 2007-005, available for Mac OS X 10.3 and 10.4 from Apple Support website or from your Software update panel:

Security Update 2007-005 is recommended for all users and improves the security of the following components:
bind
CarbonCore
CoreGraphics
crontabs
fetchmail
file
iChat
mDNSResponder
PPP
ruby
screen
texinfo
VPN
Security Update 2007-004 has been incorporated into this security update.
For additional information about this update, please visit the following website: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=305530.