France has so much respect for its cultural industry, including the ones produced in this digital age. In order to further improve and preserve the works of its artists, the government has made various steps as forms of protecting their culture. One proposal that is receiving so much attention is Mission Lescure, a study commissioned by the government and led by Pierre Lescure, the former CEO of the French broadcast group Canal+. This study aims to fight commercial counterfeiting and protect French cultural works, including music. It also suggests CSA as the new watchdog that will replace Hadopi. Its task will be to enforce antipiracy regulations and serve as vanguard for all “cultural and audiovisual media, linear as well as non-linear.”
France is the first country to have such project concerning smartphone. However, the government has all the reasons to consider a law like that. France is a mecca for many smartphones. It offers a lot of opportunities for both prominent and low-cost smartphone brands. The faster the smartphone market grows, the more challenges it will face. Most French use their smartphones to download songs, different applications, and movies. If there’s an anti-piracy law, free transferring of files without the consent of the owners/producers will be limited.
What most French do with their smartphones, according to Mobil Lens, are make calls, send electronic messages, compare product prices, shop online, play mobile games, and download different software and applications. Among all these activities, games like poker, bingo, and slot machines contributed the most on the local smartphone growth. French love playing Texas Hold’em, Omaha Hi-Lo, and 7 Card Stud on sites like partypoker français through their mobile computers. According to French online gaming regulator ARJEL, 2012 saw the number of mobile poker players has more than doubled from the year before. From the 166,500 in the fourth quarter of 2011, the number rose to 381,000 a year after. They choose mobile poker games because they are more convenient compared to land-based gaming houses. This trend has somehow triggered local web developers to create their own poker websites. Some go for something that offers real-money poker games and tournaments while others settle as poker affiliates. The French see online poker growth as a sea of opportunities and creating something that is related to the game will only mean profit. But of course, a person’s creativity won’t bloom if he feels threatened from the get-go.
French internet advocacy group La Quadrature du Net said that the proposal “quickly gives in to the arguments of the content distribution industry. The proposals are carbon copies of the policies suggested by the corresponding industry lobbies.” Well, Mission Lesucre is still in its infancy. It still needs more opinions and suggestions from the people involved in the industry. It needs everybody’s opinion to make it look perfect for the web designers and developers, software companies, and of course, the netizens.