Business | Technology
Apple's latest trick to enforce digital rights
One day. That's how long it took iTunes users to dismantle Apple's latest attempt to enforce Digital Rights Management (DRM) software.
- By Scott Shuey, Chief Reporter
- Published: 13:31 October 29, 2008
- Image Credit: Reuters
- Apple is now heftily promoting DRM-free that lets you play your music anywhere, and then prevents you from removing DRM protection.
One day. That's how long it took iTunes users to dismantle Apple's latest attempt to enforce Digital Rights Management (DRM) software.
DRM limits where and how your music can be played and has recently been under fire from consumers. Most iPod users have long known how to break Apple's DRM software. The process is known as download-burn-rip.
The name gets no points for creativity, but it's apt enough. Download a DRM-protected song, burn it to CD, and rip that CD to your computer. You now have an unprotected MP3 file, ready to be uploaded to the player (or file-sharing network) of your choice.
Technically, it's not even hacking. No law has been broken and no illegal process used. Apple could cry foul that the end user license agreement (EULA) - it's that box you mindlessly click without reading - has been violated, but so far Apple hasn't seemed inclined to engage its customers in lawsuits. Most music companies seem to have realised that suing your customers doesn't do much to increase sales.
But Apple tried to circumvent this well-established procedure with version 7.2, the same version that Apple released to play newly offered and much-hyped DRM-free songs.
With this version of iTunes, users were finding that music subjected to the old download-burn-rip would no longer load onto their iPods.
Ironically, Apple is now heftily promoting DRM-free that lets you play your music anywhere, and then prevents you from removing DRM protection. I didn't realise that it was possible to talk out of both sides of your mouth simultaneously.
iTunes users refused to take the "bug", as Apple labelled it, laying down. Within 24 hours, websites that gave full instructions on how to "fix" the problem on OSX, XP, and Vista began to appear. It's hard to find that kind of technical support from anyone today, let along pirates.
User information
Within days of this blunder, Apple was again called out for monkeying with the music.
Turns out that Apple has been embedding its files with user information. iTunes customers have been downloading files that contain both their names and their email address.
How long this has been going on and just why Apple has felt compelled to do so is still a mystery - the company so far has refused to comment - but the reason seems obvious.
The embedded data won't prevent anyone from listening to their music files, but it might deter them from uploading them to a file-sharing server.
The data is unencrypted, so uploading a file to LimeWire will be like writing your name and number on a bathroom wall. Who would do something so stupid? No one, that's the point.
But the message is clear: take our songs public, and we'll take you public.
This tactic will probably not help Apple in the long run. Defenders of the data claim there are legitimate uses for the data "water mark".
Certain iTunes features use the data to promote other music on the site. OK, fine, but then encrypt the data. Things happen. iPods get stolen, and once personal information is released on a file-sharing server, there's no getting it back.
No one so far has figured out how to remove or alter the embedded data in the tracks, yet, but the stopwatch is running. Give it a day.
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