Apple to France: not so fast, mon ami

So the French National Assembly approved an ostensibly anti-DRM bill against Apple which had, as of yesterday, elicited no comment from Cupertino. Today, however, the claws came out. Apple said, "If this happens, legal music sales will plummet just when legitimate alternatives to piracy are winning over customers," and "iPod sales will likely increase as users freely load their iPods with 'interoperable' music which cannot be adequately protected. Free movies for iPods should not be far behind in what will rapidly become a state-sponsored culture of piracy." Funny how pro-consumer their statement sounds, when they're actually trying to do is rail against being coerced into opening the iTMS and iPod. We definitely get the impression, however, that if the law is passed when it hits Senate later this year, and Apple must either open their DRM or withdraw from France, that due to what we can only imagine are contractual obligations DRM record labels' recordings Apple will have to bail out and never look back.