The French Finance Bill could have been a milestone toward recognising that consumer's rights are indeed restricted by the digital handcuffs referred to as DRM or, deceptively, “technical protection features”1. Unfortunately, the Government decided otherwise, with some help from the socialist deputies.
On Friday, 15 November, the socialist deputies adopted a Governmental amendment that removed the previous amendment establishing a differential VAT on e-books, based on the presence or absence of DRM.
Following this vote, the French organisations SavoirsCom1 and Framasoft wrote a joint statement calling on those Senators who value democratic debate to introduce the original amendment again, so that it may be discussed once more. April added its signature to this statement [3].
- 1. Digital Restrictions Management (DRM) is the practice of imposing technological restrictions that control how users can access digital media and what they can do with them. For further information, please refer to our overview on DRM [4] [fr] or to www.defectivebydesign.org [5].