Discovery News: Etherized: DRM

September 30, 2008

Not Everyone Drinks the Apple Kool-Aid

Norway's consumer rights watchdog has got an ongoing beef with Apple, and particularly with the company's online music store, iTunes. The beef? The company's Digital Rights Management (DRM).

Turns out that some Norwegians (not to mention Danes, Germans, Dutch, Finns and some French) do not like the fact that music purchased from iTunes can only be played on an iPod, and not on other mp3 players. Likewise, they argue, most music bought from other vendors won't play on iPods.

Norway's Consumer Ombudsman, Bjoern Erik Thon, is dead serious about this. He's announced that he will soon start legal action against Apple in Norway, and said that he hopes it serves as a test case that would allow other European nations to follow suit.

"This could have international consequences," Thon told the Associated Press. "It's a consumer's right to transfer and play digital content bought and downloaded from the Internet to the music device he himself chooses to use. iTunes makes this impossible, or at least difficult, and hence, they act in breach of Norwegian law."

No comment so far from Apple, which has until November 3 to respond. At that point, Thon said, he'll take the case to Norway's Market Council, a government agency that serves as a court for these kinds of complaints.

When I first covered this story back in August of 2006, the Norwegian Consumer Ombudsman's Office was just gearing up to lead a campaign against Apple's DRM. It seemed like it had secured some promises from Apple to open things up a bit. But clearly, not open enough, and not fast enough.

The worst case scenario could see Apple fined, or even asked to close down its iTunes service in Norway.
Who knows (he asks tongue firmly in cheek) how Apple will manage to pay the fine, or deal with the loss of the, ahem, lucrative Norwegian online music market...

(Screen grab from iTunes Norway, doctored by yours truly)