Sun, 20 Jun 2004

Beastie Boys' New Album Silently Installs DRM Code

This is like selling somebody cyanide while insisting they're buying a hot dog. If a company installs software on my machine without my knowledge, let alone my permission, then they have just committed an act of digital vandalism, and when my rabid dog trial lawyer get's through with them, I'll be rich.

But it does show the level of desperation that's reaching into the record companies: what puzzles me most is why they can't see that this has the exact opposite effect of what they desired. They want increased sales, but just hearing about this makes me very reluctant to purchase any music on CD (or faux CD, as Philips refuses to let any copy protected disk carry the label). Thank the gods for iTunes.

After more than five years, the Beastie Boys have released a new album. It seems that the retail disc is bundled with a copy protection autoinstaller which silently silently puts itself onto the listener's computer. Many listeners are up in arms and some are venting their frustrations on the band's website.

(link) [Slashdot]

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