iTunes ‘hidden data’ could backfire
p2pnet.net news:- Steve Jobs is keeping quiet on the fact Apple has been caught red-handed trying to promote the idea it’s anti-DRM on the one hand, and hiding user data in its new $1.30 iTunes downloads on the other.
But the move is likely to backfire with Jobs’ name, instead of users’, showing up in the watermarks, predicts an expert.
EMI, now under new ownership, decided the only way to go was to drop DRM (Digital Restrictions Management) consumer control and Apple saw this as a great marketing opportunity.
It’s now peddling EMI mp4a MPEG 4 audio files via iTunes.
But, “There’s absolutely no reason that it had to be embedded, unencrypted and in the clear,” Wired has the EFF’s (Electronic Frontier Foundation) Fred von Lohmann saying. “Some of the privacy problems, in light of this, is that anyone who steals an iPod that includes purchased iTunes music will now have the name and e-mail address of its rightful owner.”
Not only but also, “I’m also fully expecting that someone will build a tool that will change the name and e-mail address to Steve Jobs and stevejobs@apple.com,” he said.
“If there’s one thing we’ve seen about the internet, [it's that] people are sometimes able to build tools that help themselves.”
And on the distinctly negative side, as a p2pnet reader comments, “Thieves that want to go that extra mile can also purposely upload the tracks (with personal information still included) so the victim of the theft gets a free knock on the door by the industry muscle.
“Then they can sign them up for all sorts of weird website, spam, junkmail, etc.”
Thanks a lot, Steve.
Also See:
caught red-handed – User data in iTunes DRM-free tracks, June 1, 2007
EMI mp4a – iTunes DRM-free downloads, May 31, 2007
Wired – Why Is DRM-Free Music Tagged With Name and E-Mail? Apple Keeps Mum, June 1, 2007
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June 4th, 2007 at 7:57 am
Thieves that want to go that extra mile can also purposely upload the tracks (with personal information still included) so the victim of the theft gets a free knock on the door by the industry muscle.
Then they can sign them up for all sorts of weird website, spam, junkmail, etc.
June 4th, 2007 at 9:21 am
“There’s absolutely no reason that it had to be embedded, unencrypted and in the clear,”
well sure but has anyone checked to make sure it’s not also in there encrytped? Then if the “embedded, unencrypted and in the clear” information is removed, then they could still track it. Just a thought.
July 2nd, 2007 at 5:30 pm
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