Apple: turning into law enforcement, one step at a time

When Apple announced that it was going to sell DRM-free music, most people thought that that would be a good thing for the iPod-addicted masses. DRM restricts consumers options and freedoms, and is entirely unwanted on their end. Even though Apple was raising the cost 30 cents (for an increase in quality as well, not just for taking away a "feature" that customers didn't want in the first place), the announcement was greeted with general acclaim by those who hoped that Apple was moving away from the privacy-invasive techniques of Big Media.

The devil, of course, is in the details. Apple has traded in DRM on its EMI tracks for something even more insidious: a water mark that embeds the name and email address of the user that purchased it in the file, allowing Apple (or anyone else) to identify who the file was originally sold to. Of course, this can be easily circumvented by converting the file to mp3, overwritting the name and email (steve@mac.com, for a good laugh), etc. However, the fact remains that the vast majority of users either do not know, do not care, or do not care to figure out how to eliminate this data from their files. See for yourself:

dannyc@sf:~/Desktop/Music From Laptop/DRM (iTunes)$ strings 01\ Proper\ Education\ \(Radio\ Edit\).m4p | grep "name"
nameDaniel Colligan
name
dannyc@sf:~/Desktop/Music From Laptop/DRM (iTunes)$ strings 01\ Proper\ Education\ \(Radio\ Edit\).m4p | grep ".com"
dannycolligan@gmail.com
"com.
dannyc@sf:~/Desktop/Music From Laptop/DRM (iTunes)$

Apple's actions beg the question, why are they doing this? What possible benefit could Apple reap from putting identifying information in its files? Since they have the iTunes player on virtually every consumer desktop these days, is it so improbable that the next iTunes upgrade will include a spy that informs Apple whenever you have files that do not belong to you and/or deletes them and/or informs someone else (say, those labels that Mr. Jobs has been cozying up to lately)? Ars Technica points out that iTunes already feeds data back to Apple so that the iTunes client can recommend tracks that you might like. Put the dail-home feature with the identifying info feature, however, and you have a recipe for a copyright infringement detector. Just what we all need: now in addition to Big Media watching our every transmission over the network, Apple will be the overlord of our hard drive.

If it's not obvious to you already, avoid using iTunes for your own sake.

Setting up an epic lawyer-fest for the ages?

From slashdot today:

"First it was Napster; then it was Internet radio; then it was little girls, grandmothers, and dead people. But now our friends at the RIAA are going decidedly low-tech. The LA Times reports that the RIAA wants royalties from radio stations. 70 years ago Congress exempted radio stations from paying royalties to performers and labels because radio helps sell music. But since the labels that make up the RIAA are not getting the cash they desire through sales of CDs, and since Internet and satellite broadcasters are forced to cough up cash to their racket, now the RIAA wants terrestrial radio to pay up as well."

Finally, the RIAA is duking it out with another entity that can afford to pay lawyers: ClearChannel. No one is quite sure how this battle will turn out, but hopefully it will erode both entitys' power and credibility (after all, ClearChannel sucks, too). An odd coincidence is this onion article, just put out today.

Imprisoned for life for "Piracy"?

Embattled Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is pushing a new bill, the Intellectual Property Protection Act of 2007. This bill has a number of ridiculous clauses, such as life imprisonment in certain circumstances for "piracy."

Additionally, it has provisions that would bring a tear of joy to any RIAA prosecutor's eye. These include expanding the rules by which wiretapping is allowed to detect copyright infringement, criminalizing attempting to infringe copyright, generally making punishments harsher for copyright infringement, and even having the department of homeland security notify the RIAA about "pirated" importing of CDs (it's notable that no other copyright holder qualifies for this kind of treatment).

There was a bill before congress like this last year and it didn't go anywhere. Hopefully this bill will suffer the same fate.

Team America, World Police

Looks like America's "Intellectual Property" laws extend beyond its borders. The US has convinced Australia to extradite a member of the warez group DrinkOrDie. He had never been to America, but now he faces up to 10 years in prison as he awaits his fate in a Virginia cell.

This represents an extraordinary extension of the US' legal authority over other countries, especially when it comes to protection of "Intellectual Property." This man should be tried in Australian courts (if not lauded as a hero). Unfortunately Team America, World Police, does not see it that way.

Who isn't in the RIAA's pocket? Harvard!

Finally, someone influential in the academic community has taken a strong stand against the RIAA's tactics. Professor Charles Nesson and Professor Wendy Seltzer of Harvard Law School have written an editorial in the Harvard Crimson stating that doing the RIAA's dirty work in outing its students is contrary to the school's educational mission. Rock on.

Who is in the RIAA's pocket now? Congress!

It is a sad day when our elected officials turn on us on the command of the RIAA, et al. Congress has sent letters to universities asking what they are doing to prevent illegal downloading of copyrighted works. Congress warned that it would be "forced to act" if it was not provided with "acceptable answers."

The RIAA has co-opted the FBI, police, and judicial system against us in the past, and now it seems like they're directing their efforts towards the legislative branch. Aren't we fighting a war? Aren't we destroying the earth? Aren't there any other social problems that deserve Congress' attention? Why are they wasting their time getting paid off by the RIAA to do their dirty work? Oh, right... they're politicians. I can almost hear the auctioneer:

"Now bidding on Lamar Smith's (R-TX) vote! Can I get seven thousand dollars? Cary Sherman places a bid in the back for seven thousand; can I get eight?"