French DRM-busting plan becomes law

The contentious French legislation that had initially threatened to outlaw Apple's practise of using digital rights management technology with purchases made on the iTunes Music Store has finally entered the statue books - but the controversy continues.

The law now in force is a watered down version of the threatened DRM-cracking legislation. Apple's rivals can now request information necessary to make their services and MP3 players interoperable with their own systems but Apple must be compensated.

France's main opposition party, the Parti Socialiste, has promised that, should it be elected in 2007, it will revise the law - although it hasn't yet divulged exactly what changes it intends to make.

Anne Hidalgo, the Parti Socialiste's national secretary for culture and the media, said: "The law is unworkable and its problems are growing."

The socialists are promising to revise the law if elected, after consulting with artists, consumers, businesses and ISPs.

The party, however, hasn't proposed concrete changes and its MPs have yet to come to a consensus. After the debates concluded, however, Ségolène Royal - tipped as a future French President - publicly came out against non-interoperable DRM, issuing a joint communication with open source crusader Richard Stallman to that effect.

Estelle Dumout writes for ZDNet France