Norway has taken a really close look at Apple’s DRM technology FairPlay and come to the conclusion that this does not comply with the Norwegian consumer laws. They think that Apple locks in its users by shutting out all other media players from playing media protected by FairPlay. With support from German and French consumer organizations, on top of the other Nordic countries, this means that Apple is left with basically two choices. License/release the specifications for FairPlay or retract iTunes from Europe. They’ve also made it very clear that this isn’t just about protecting the media from piracy but that Apple is also very aware of that it is locking in its users.
“It doesn’t get any clearer than this. FairPlay is an illegal lock-in technology whose main purpose is to lock the consumers to the total package provided by Apple by blocking interoperability,” /…/ “For all practical purposes this means that iTunes Music Store is trying to kill off one the most important building blocks in a well functioning digital society, interoperability, in order to boost its own profits.”
