CBS gave RIAA Last.fm user data: report
p2pnet news view RIAA | P2P “Last.fm didn’t hand user data over to the RIAA. According to our source, it was their parent company, CBS, that did it.That corresponds to what our original source said in conversations we had after our initial post and before CBS lawyers became involved. But we didn’t want to update until we had an independent source for that information, too.
“Here’s what we believe happened: CBS requested user data from Last.fm, including user name and IP address. CBS wanted the data to comply with a RIAA request but told Last.fm the data was going to be used for ‘internal use only.’ It was only after the data was sent to CBS that Last.fm discovered the real reason for the request.
“Last.fm staffers were outraged, say our sources, but the data had already been sent to the RIAA.”
So states TechCrunch’s Michael Arrington.
Said a p2pnet story in February »»»
“Hi from Last.fm, I’m one of the founders (and the original founder of audioscrobbler, the music tracking plugin).
“I’m not going to write much right now because i’m rather pissed off this article was published, except to say that this is utter nonsense and totally untrue.
“As far as I can tell, the author of this article got a ‘tip’ from *one* person and decided to make a story out of it. Techcrunch is full of shit, film at 11.”
So says RJ (Richard Jones) in a comment post to Erick Schonfeld’s TechCrunch story which flatly states »»»
That leaked U2 album is causing all sorts of trouble. The unreleased album, which is due out on March 3, found its way onto BitTorrent and was downloaded hundreds of thousands of times. That, apparently, sent music industry lawyers over at the Recording Industry Association of America into a fit. As a result, word is going around that the RIAA asked social music service Last.fm for data about its user’s listening habits to find people with unreleased tracks on their computers. And Last.fm, which is owned by CBS, actually handed the data over to the RIAA. According to a tip we received:
I heard from an irate friend who works at CBS that last.fm recently provided the RIAA with a giant dump of user data to track down people who are scrobbling unreleased tracks. As word spread numerous employees at last.fm were up in arms because the data collected (a) can be used to identify individuals and (b) will likely be shared with 3rd parties that have relationships with the RIAA.
Supposedly, the operations team which handed over the data in the first place weren’t told the true purpose for the transfer or who was getting the data until after the fact, and only when they had to help with some corrupted data. It sounds like it was more of a corporate decision. I’ve contacted both CBS and the RIAA. Most of the Last.fm team is in London, where the weekend has already started. For now Last.fm says: “To our knowledge, no data has been made available to RIAA.” (The RIAA declined to comment).
Schonfeld goes on to point out “Last.fm members knowingly share what they are listening to with the rest of the Last.fm community,” and that Last.fm’s privacy policy reads:
“[...] your record collection (including your skipping history) may be viewed by all other users of Last.fm (who may include other organisations or representatives of other organisations who have registered as Last.fm users) and that they may easily associate this information with your Last.fm username.”
But. he adds »»»
“[...] most probably never even considered it a possibility that individually identifiable information about their listening habits (legal, illegal, or otherwise) could be handed over to an organization known for taking consumers to court for file-sharing. What makes this even more egregious is that it appears to be absent any legal precedent (such as a pending lawsuit) for which Last.fm could at least hide behind as an excuse.”
Posts Last.FM developer Russ Garrett:
I’d like to issue a full and categorical denial of this. We’ve never had any request for such data by anyone, and if we did we wouldn’t consent to it.
Of course we work with the major labels and provide them with broad statistics, as we would with any other label, but we’d never personally identify our users to a third party – that goes against everything we stand for.
As far as I’m concerned Techcrunch have made this whole story up.
Stay tuned.
TechCrunch – Deny This, Last.fm, May 22, 2009
p2pnet – ‘TechCrunch is full of shit’ – Last.fm, February 21, 2009
leaked U2 album – Spoiled by Bono, February 21, 2009
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May 23rd, 2009 at 4:32 pm
deleted account, moved to libre.fm
May 23rd, 2009 at 4:54 pm
“Last.fm didn’t hand user data over to the RIAA. According to our source, it was their parent company, CBS, that did it. That corresponds to what our original source said in conversations we had after our initial post and before CBS lawyers silenced him.”
How sweet.
May 23rd, 2009 at 8:34 pm
http://www.last.fm/forum/21717/_/535934/_/9521312
You should read this first. Tech Crunch should be added to your list of unreliable trash.
May 23rd, 2009 at 8:51 pm
Audioscrobbler has now been uninstalled! I kind of thought about doing that before when I read an article about the U2 album problem before and now that I’ve read this, LastFM and their audioscrobbler will never be used by me again even with my proxy server to get me into the US to listen.
Screw LastFM now anyway, since they made it subscriber only for Canadians. It’s too bad, because it really was a revolutionary way to learn about and listen to new music before they sold out to CBS. Another big win for the Corporations and the RIAA and a great loss for music lovers and fans. They’ll never learn, and the people who created LastFM have no integrity.
May 24th, 2009 at 12:49 am
An “unidentified source” close to CBS/last.fm spouts a bunch of BS and nobody confirms the info……
Why does this smell like shit to me????
Likely because it is!!, name the source and SHOW THE PROOF that this was done. Then flame last.fm
for screwing their users, not before hand on some lame-assed “source”.
And btw I dont use last.fm, its simply the stupidity of herd mentality that got you this comment!!
May 24th, 2009 at 4:07 am
Congrats, JasonN, for embarrassing yourself by going over-the-top without reading.
Go back, read the link I just posted above… a response from a much more reliable source than the National TechCrunch Enquirer who provided no facts whatsoever, just pretended that they were.
Also note in that same thread (partway into page 6 of it) that TechCrunch is summarily deleting all responses on their site that are even remotely in opposition of their non-fact attack. You’ll see several quoted messages that were deleted, and even a few screenshots linked.
The only people hiding anything here are at the National TechCrunch Enquirer. They’ve gotten themselves trapped in a lie, and now they’re having to delete every response that calls them on it rather than dare respond.
May 24th, 2009 at 4:49 am
It doesn’t matter if it was last.fm or CBS that gave the data to the RIAA in my book. Last.fm had the data, CBS controls last.fm. I suspect when word gets around the site, there will be near nothing left of last.fm. They sure won’t have my data, not now and certainly not in the future. As far as I am concerned, CBS killed last.fm with that move of releasing the data. Doesn’t matter why the data was released, doesn’t matter under what guise it was said it would be used for. What matters is that the corporations ideas of what represents security and privacy are totally different from what users expect.
Last.fm might have had a chance to continue had this not happened. It will never get an good recommendation from me in any manner due to the problems of big brother.
May 24th, 2009 at 11:33 am
And obviously to you, who failed to fully read, it doesn’t even matter *if* the data was released.
TechCrunch, sponsors including a last.fm competitor, posts something with no verifiable sources, and you (and p2pnet.net for that matter) are just the kind of suckers they’re looking for to spread unsubstantiated accusations as truth.
My big toe on my left foot has supernatural powers. You have to believe it because you read it on the internet. I can make up an e-mail that verifies it too!
Meanwhile, last.fm staff states that it’s not only false, but that it would be a violation of law to do this. That CBS has no direct access to the data, and that the only way they could get the data was through the staff member who said it was never asked for nor given to them.
The RIAA themselves have stated that they never asked for such data. They as well as anyone with an IQ above 2 can see that easily-falsified (via ID3 tag) data is completely useless to them.
http://arstechnica.com/media/news/2009/02/riaa-denies-rumors-that-lastfm-turned-over-data.ars
Quote from the arstechnica article (conveniently left out of TechCrunch’s drivel): The RIAA has finally chimed in as well, categorically denying that any such request was ever made. “[We're] not sure where that rumor came from,” RIAA spokesperson Cara Duckworth told Ars on Saturday. “It’s not true.”
But you keep on believing some proven-false-several-times-before blogger on TechCrunch whose articles consist of unsourced information and so many “I/we believe”-nonfacts. I believe the word you’re looking for is: foolish.
Don’t get your panties in a bunch. Even if (and the burden of proof, actual proof, lies on TechCrunch now) such a data transfer happened, the ability to easily change ID3 tags in files and submit that you’re listening to whatever (Now Playing: P2Pnet.net – I Copy the False Allegations as Truth to Make the Whole World Zing!) makes any such data inadmissable in front of even the dumbest judge, whom they’d have to go through to get access to any name behind any IP address.
Come on people, stop taking everything you read at face value, and use your head to actually stop, look at the opposing facts as opposed to the article’s non-facts, and just for once in your life, think.
May 24th, 2009 at 12:58 pm
Well that would mean their “Source” really went out of his/her way to plant false info then, would it not? Right down to the Email and screen shot of the Email supposedly from CBS.
The 2nd “Source” would also have went out of his/her way to compliment the first source.
So, make of it as you will.
On a side note, if the sources were just planting false info, one would also have to question the motive for this.
May 24th, 2009 at 1:20 pm
The most fascinating thing about the TC denial article is how heavily they’re censoring comments. Give it a try! Say something opposing their argument, wait a few minutes then reload the page. Watch your comment VANISH!
May 27th, 2009 at 6:25 am
Let’s see who’s more reliable: the National TechCrunch Enquirer, or the Wall Street Journal:
http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2009/05/26/lastfm-denies-data-sharing-accusations-again/
UPDATE, 3:25 p.m.: CBS responds: “Both CBS and the RIAA have already stated quite clearly, for the record, that absolutely no individual user or listener information was supplied to the RIAA by Last.fm or any division of CBS Corporation in the past, nor do we plan to do so in the future. The story posted by the Web site was based on an unnamed tipster. No inquiry was made to CBS or Last.fm about the veracity of the anonymous source. Those who consult such blogs should be aware of the standard by which such postings are sourced and published.”
May 28th, 2009 at 12:16 pm
well, what do you expect? RIAA, CBS and last.fm are gonna drop on their knees and admit how they have erred? They’re definitely gonna deny it at all cost. best part is, last.fm keep repeating that they’ve never shared identifying data with RIAA (sure, they gave it to their boss, CBS).