From AVN

Alternative/goth Adult Web site www.SuicideGirls.com was sent a cease and desist letter from Nintendo of America Tuesday ordering the company to remove references to Zelda and Metroid from their Web site. On Thursday, the video game maker followed up with an apology letter, offering free video game systems.

The first letter, from Seattle law firm Perkins Coie, claimed that SuicideGirls was infringing on Nintendo’s trademarks by using them on a sexually-explicit Web site. It went on, This use is unauthorized, and we are writing to demand that you immediately cease and desist this infringement.

The references to the Nintendo games Metroid and Zelda were actually listed on the member profile page of site member RuneLateralus, under “favorite video games.” At no time did the owners of the site think of deleting them.

I’d consider pulling it when a judge told me to pull it, not before, Sean Suicide of SuicideGirls.com told AVNOnline.com. However, Nintendo apparently saw the error of their ways and quickly sent another letter admitting their mistake and offering an olive branch or two.

Thursday’s letter, this time directly from Nintendo, stated, We would like to apologize to you and to those who frequent the suicidegirls.com Web site for inadvertently contacting you about a fan posting on the Web site. We know that many of our fans are old enough to make their own choice about what they want to view on the Internet. We value the support of our fans and we respect their decisions. The letter was sent as part of an ongoing Nintendo program to aggressively protect our younger consumers from the hundreds of sexually-explicit sites each year that use Nintendo properties to attract children. We are proud of our efforts in this area. Unfortunately, the site posting identified in our letter was targeted by mistake.

The letter goes on to offer RuneLateralus and the SuicideGirls administrator a free video game system and game of their choice, which are being graciously accepted.

I think it’s a bit presumptuous to think you can control when or where someone may mention the name of your product, Suicide said. But you have to give Nintendo credit for seeing the error of their ways so quickly.

From AVN

A pair of gay-owned Internet businesses that don’t believe themselves to be sexually-oriented say PayPal is extending its no-porn policy to them.

Hyperion Interactive Media (HIM) in Los Angeles, a Web business whose sites offer services to gay surfers; and Belhue Press in New York, a publisher of books by gay writers, say PayPal let them go as clients earlier this year. Both companies said PayPal told them via email that their Web sites violated PayPal’s acceptable use policies.

This occurred around the same time PayPal dropped an actual sexually-oriented gay Web business, BadPuppy.com.

Belhue Press owner Perry Brass says his company sent a small flurry of email messages to PayPal’s customer service department to learn why his publishing company was let go as a PayPal client, and learned the reason was a photograph on one of his company’s titles – a photograph showing a pair of bare-chested men embracing. Brass said it was no different that photographs you might see on “dozens of straight romance novels” sold in airports, bookstores, or supermarkets.

Brass also said PayPal told him later they would agree to reinstate Belhue if they agreed to produce a statement removing such book covers, an offer Brass found easy enough to refuse.

Obviously my Web site, www.perrybrass.com, would be forbidden hereon from selling penis-shaped macaroni, anything published by Playboy after 1980, and any postcards less than ten years [sic] showing two-year-old puppies fucking while being petted by humans,” Brass said in a statement on his site. “I read [PayPal’s policy] in a dazed state: where it's not blatantly stupid, it becomes really Naziish. Although some people would argue that no one has to use PayPal, it does not take a big leap of imagination to see the grunts at PayPal organizing a bonfire of books, sculpture, art work, and ‘toys’ that they object to.

From Reuters

PayPal, the online payments arm of eBay, on Friday said it will soon fine people up to $500 for uses related to gambling, adult content or services, and buying or selling prescription drugs from non-certified sellers.

The new policy, which takes effect Sept. 24 and applies to both buyers and sellers, marks the first time PayPal has imposed fines for violations of its use policy, spokeswoman Amanda Pires said.

In addition to fines that could be applied to each violation, PayPal may take legal action to recover losses in excess of the fines, Pires said in an interview.

PayPal processes transactions on the Net and at one time had received almost 10 percent of its revenue from online gambling. But it halted the practice under regulatory pressure after its acquisition by eBay in 2002 and now prohibits the processing of gambling and adult transactions. Now it has decided to enforce that policy with fines.

What you're seeing here is an evolution of our program. We're trying to deter people who would offer PayPal as a way to pay for anything in these categories, said Pires in an interview.

Under the new policy, prescription drug sellers who do not have Verified Internet Pharmacy Practice Sites certification from the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy, and the people who buy from them, also face fines and possible legal action if they do business using PayPal.

Pires said the changes were not in response to any sort of pressure from regulators.

Eric Jackson, a former PayPal executive and author of the new book The PayPal Wars, had a different view. He called the new policy "draconian" and said it was likely a two-fold strategy to discourage certain behavior while heading off regulators. I can only surmise that PayPal is coming under increasing regulatory pressure and has no choice at this point but to take an aggressive posture. I think they're making an emphatic statement that they're making a clean break from gambling in particular.

Companies and hackers who secretly install "spyware" on others' computers and Internet users who copy movies and music without permission could face up to three years in prison under bills that advanced in the US Congress recently.

The House Judiciary Committee voted to enlist the government to a greater degree in the entertainment industry's fight against those who share its products over the Internet. The committee also voted to establish criminal penalties for those who install spyware on others' computers to commit identity theft or other crimes.

Under the wide-ranging copyright bill, Internet users who distribute more than 1,000 songs through peer-to-peer networks like Kazaa and Morpheus could face up to three years in prison.  People who secretly videotape movies when they are shown in theaters could also go to prison for up to three years.

But in a provision likely to anger Hollywood, companies that edit out sex and violence from movies to make them more "family friendly" would be immune from copyright suits. Rep. Howard Berman, a Democrat whose Los Angeles district includes many entertainment companies, said that provision could allow third parties to strip out commercials from television shows, or insert commercials of their own with impunity.

The recording industry has sued more than 3,000 individuals over the past year for copyright violations, but the Justice Department so far has only brought a handful of cases.

The bill would train agents to investigate intellectual-property crimes and set up a Justice Department program to educate the public about copyright rules. Justice Department investigators would be able to send warnings to users they suspect of copying songs illegally, sending the messages to their Internet providers to pass along.

Both the copyright bill and the spyware bill now head to the House floor for consideration. The spyware bill could be combined with one passed by the Senate Commerce Committee earlier this year that would require software makers to notify people before loading new programs on their computers.

From Wired

An international treaty to give broadcasters the right to control who may record, transmit, or distribute their signals is reaching a crucial stage of negotiation by the World Intellectual Property Organization in Geneva.

Today's the Day. The current draft (PDF) incorporates many proposals, but the main ones most countries agree on give broadcasters 50 years' worth of legal control over the recording, retransmission, and reproduction of their broadcast signals. These rights are separate from those of the owners of the actual content being broadcast.

If members at the next meeting of WIPO's Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights, in November approve the treaty, it could take effect by 2006.

The idea that broadcasters should have rights enabling them to combat signal piracy is relatively uncontentious. Opponents such as the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the Union for the Public Domain are concerned, however, that broadcast rights might lock up materials that should be freely available to the public.

Cory Doctorow, the London-based European Affairs Coordinator for the EFF, highlights two additional sources of worry. First, the US, represented in Geneva by the Patent Office, is demanding that the treaty include webcasting. If that proposal should pass, broadcast rights could apply to anything downloaded from any Web site, making it impossible to be sure whether even open-source software wasn't covered.

Second, Doctorow said, one proposal in the draft treaty requires that receivers, defined as any device that can decrypt broadcasts, must incorporate technology to protect those broadcasts. As currently drafted, he believes that would include general-purpose computers.

That clause in the draft treaty echoes recent US legislation that introduced the "broadcast flag," a technical control that must be implemented by July 1, 2005 for all devices for sales in the US that receive television signals.

However, said Tom Rivers, a former head of copyright for the BBC who now represents the Association of Commercial Television in Europe at WIPO, the technical protection clause is unlikely to garner enough support.

An account of the negotiations by the EFF suggests that Webcasters will not ultimately be included because only the US wants it.

The treaty's European proponents, such as the UK Copyright Office and the European Broadcasting Union, say the treaty merely extends protections that have been in place since 1998. They describe it as a way to harmonize intellectual property rights across Europe.

Ben Ivins, senior associate general counsel for the National Association of Broadcasters, sees no cause for alarm. Broadcast rights have been recognized in Europe for six years, and the sky hasn't fallen in.

Nonetheless, Doctorow remains unappeased. The broadcast treaty is orders of magnitude broader in scope than the broadcast flag. You as the person who transmits information get to tell people what they can and can't do with it he said, adding that his biggest objection is the potential impact on the public domain.

The Motion Picture Association of America said Monday that it has sued two chipmakers for selling DVD chips to companies that are flouting copy-protection rules.

The lawsuit is the second to target DVD hardware makers and is part of a new campaign by the trade association to crack down on the spread of disc players that deviate from a Hollywood-approved system of copy control features.

According to the MPAA, Sigma Designs in Milpitas, Calif., and Taiwan-based MediaTek each have sold DVD-player chips to companies that offer features in their products that aren't allowed under the general DVD technology license. That act violated the license the chipmakers had to sign to build the DVD chips in the first place, the trade association bullies said.

The lawsuits come as part of an expanded MPAA enforcement campaign aimed at hardware makers, following some success in blocking the spread of commercial DVD-copying software. The new drive stems in part from the creation of an in-house lab that the MPAA uses to study and disassemble DVD hardware, among other products, to ensure that it complies with the Hollywood mafia.

But unlike earlier lawsuits focused on the spread of DVD-copying software, the chip-focused cases rest on the contracts used to control DVD technology itself instead of on copyright law.

DVD-reading technology is controlled by a Hollywood-affiliated technology group called the DVD Copy Control Association, or DVD CCA. Any chipmaker or DVD player that wants the rights to unscramble the digital locks put on commercial DVDs must agree to a specific set of nightmarish contract terms approved by the big studios.

Those contracts include provisions that bar the creation of DVD-copying devices. They also require DVD makers to ensure that any output plugs don't allow high quality copies.

An MPAA spokesman said the group's new lab had found devices with unprotected outputs that included components from Sigma and MediaTek. The lawsuits against both companies are based on breach of the contract with DVD CCA.

Well I for one will be boycotting the Games

From The Guardian

Official Olympic sponsors are protecting their patch more jealously than ever. Even spectators could be in for a nasty surprise this year in Athens

There can be few marketing opportunities more attractive than the Olympic Games. The appeal lies not just in the reach of the television coverage - an estimated 3.7 billion viewers in 220 countries tuned in to watch the Sydney Olympics - but also in the connotations of cooperation, inclusion and sportsmanship which pervade the games. In recognition of the fact that the Games could not take place without sponsorship income, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) works hard to safeguard the rights of its sponsors.

The Olympic Symbols Protection Act and its overseas equivalents rule out direct association with the Games, unless this association has been paid for. But imaginative companies will always find ways around these rules, a practice which has become known as "ambush marketing".

A company does not need to have the Olympic rings on its packaging to associate its products with the Games in the minds of the public. For example, advertisements featuring athletes and aired at the time of the Olympics will inevitably be connected with the Games by viewers. Just such an association was engineered by Pepsi, which launched a television advertising campaign featuring Magic Johnson, two weeks before the 1992 Olympics began. Coca Cola was understandably irritated, having spent what is thought to have been £18m for its official sponsor status.

In recent years, the IOC has made efforts to combat the rise in ambush marketing. In a further battle in the war between Pepsi and Coke, the Sydney Olympics saw the confiscation of Pepsi cans from spectators to protect the rights of the official sponsor. This may have drawn more attention to Pepsi than it would have gained had no action been taken. This year, the IOC is taking no risks.

According to the terms and conditions of admission, spectators at the Athens Games will find themselves unable to enter the Olympic stadia with any food or drink, including water and ice trays - arguably a dangerous move in a venue as hot as Athens in August. Spectators will find their entry barred if they are wearing promotional clothing, if that clothing does not bear the hallmarks of an official sponsor. "Coordinated group promotion" is also outlawed, and members of the audience sitting next to each other wearing clothing with letters on which together spell out a commercial, political or religious message will find themselves on the wrong side of the ticket barriers.

The terms and conditions allow for the organising committee to deal on the spot with any methods of ambush marketing which emerge during the Athens Games, by including a catch-all provision for the prohibition of "inappropriate" objects, as well as a right to alter the list of banned items at any time.

There are some surprising consequences of certain companies' sponsorship of the Athens Games. For example, it is not possible to purchase a ticket to the Olympics using any credit card other than a Visa card, Visa being a sponsor of the Games. Such fringe benefits of sponsorship result in a large proportion of sponsors renewing their connection with the Games year after year. Indeed, Federal Express, which withdrew its sponsorship in 1984, may well regret this decision 20 years on.

The Athens organising committee has already rid the city of 10,000 billboards and has imposed strict controls on the remaining hoardings, preserving them for the Games' sponsors.

From The Register

Copy protection software developer Macrovision is set to roll out an updated version of its CDS 300 system that it claims can beat attempts to bypass Windows' auto-run feature but goes some way to balance that by allowing users to burn copies of the CD for personal use.

CDS 300 was launched earlier this year and like older versions blocks access to the CD audio, 'Red Book' portion of a disc when it's played on a PC. Instead, PC users are provided with compressed audio files, currently in Windows Media format (at 192Kbps on the test pressing we saw), on a data portion of the disc. While Macrovision initially provided its own playback software, CDS 300 ties into Windows Media Player.

CDS 300 relies on Windows' auto-run feature to fire up WMP, but as has been well documented elsewhere this can be bypassed by holding down the Shift key, which in turn stops the software installing code that blocks unauthorised access to the audio session. CDS 300 Version 7, which is currently at an alpha testing stage before going beta next month, has sufficent hardware protection - errors in the data, essentially - to block attempts to rip a protected disc's CD audio session.

The upshot, says Macrovision, is that users are forced to used WMP, which invokes the installer. This time round, users are asked if they want to install a "licence" on their PC, but on goes Macrovision's Active Software Protection (ASP) code too, which actively blocks rippers and cloners. To be fair, Macrovision is keen to stress that the on-screen installation information admits that ASP is there, but how many users will take the time to read it, rather than dashing straight for the OK button, we wonder?

The company is also at pains to point out that ASP isn't spyware, particularly having seen so many claims that its previous-generation CDS-200 system installed that kind of code. It didn't - it just installed a player application. It's SunnComm's MediaMax C3 system that installs a driver to block ripping. However, be they right or be they wrong, spyware/malware/virus claims are going to be levelled at Macrovision when CDS Version 7 ships with its ASP installer.

UK marketing chief Simon Mehlman told The Register that ASP is 99 per cent effective against 15 of most common rippers and cloners, but admitted that protection isn't at 100 per cent. Indeed, we note that iTunes isn't on Macrovision's list, probably because it allows users to rip discs through an error-correction mechanism that resembles those found in consumer electronics CD players.

Mehlman said Macrovision is actively researching coding to foil discs ripped on a Mac, and is working on a version of ASP for the Mac OS. If the company is successful in persuading Apple to license its FairPlay DRM technology, it will add iPod support - essentially by adding FairPlay-protected AAC tracks to each protected CD's data session.

Indeed, the company is working on real-time transcoding software that automatically creates compressed, DRM-enabled tracks from the Red Book audio tracks on the disc as they are played or burned. Ultimately the user will be allowed to choose which format they want - and thus whichever DRM scheme is most commonly used with that format.

CDS 300 Version 7's new burning support allows users to create protected copies of discs which can be played back on CE kit but feature all the hard-coded protection to prevent them being used to copy songs on another PC. The discs lack the data session and ASP installer, Mehlman said.

Macrovision portrays the move as an attempt to make legally purchased music as accessible as users have come to expect, particularly in the US where 'fair uses' enshrined in copyright law include the making of copies for personal use. Of course, as Mehlman admits, while Macrovision makes this "controlled burning" available, it's up to CDS 300 customers whether they implement it in the DRM usage rules. What concerns us is that while this will be enabled in the US, in European countries where the above 'fair use' is not provided, copy protection will be used to block even harmless one-off personal-use copying.

And there are other limitations. While Macrovision operates an extensive testing lab full of kit to make a CE fan drool, independently conducted research shows that while CDS 300 discs are playable in all tested car CD players, games consoles and hi-fi systems, that's not the case with DVD players and portable CD players, when 9.1 per cent and 5.6 per cent, respectively, of devices failed.

Macrovision says that in such cases, it's the player's ability to cope with multi-session, Red Book and Yellow Book discs that's at fault, but that's little consolation if you own such a device and are used to playing purchases CDs without any trouble. Macrovision reckons such difficulties will be few and far between by the time CDS 300 Version 7 ships.

"Playability issues will be old news when version seven ships," said Ran Alcalay, Macrovision's sales chief. Though the lack of iPod support may yet come back to bite him.

CDS 300 Version 7 is due for release in September, with certification of production facilities to take place shortly after. Shipping discs protected with the new version depends on Macrovision's record label customers, but Q4 looks set to see the widest selection of protected releases yet. Macrovision is already preparing a CDS 300 update for Q1 2005.

From AVN

The UK High Court has judged that the sale, advertisement, possession for commercial purposes and use of PlayStation 2 modification chips is illegal in this country.

Under the UK's implementation of the European Union Copyright Directive (EUCD), Europe's answer to the controversial US Digital Millennium Copyright Act, it is illegal to bypass copy protection mechanisms. On that basis Mr Justice Laddie ruled that David Ball had acted unlawfully by selling 1500 Messiah 2 mod chips which enabled such circumvention.

The Messiah chips were offered as a way to allow UK PS2s not only to play legitimate US and Japanese games, but pirated titles and back-up copies made by users, which Sony forbids in the UK.

The UK enacted the EUCD in October 2003. The Directive has similarly been enacted in a number of other EU member states, allowing Sony to pursue mod chip sellers. Recently, it won just such a case in Belgium.

That said, there have been setbacks. Earlier this year, the Italian court ruled that mod chips are legal on the basis that it's up to the user, not Sony, how they use their PS2. It even went so far as to name mod chips as crucial tools to "avoid monopolistic positions".

And in Spain, it emerged that a loophole in Spanish copyright law legalises mod chips even though they run contrary to the spirit of the country's intellectual property

 From AVN

You could call it a small shift in the movie industry's way of handling online piracy, but a group of media and tech giants – including Microsoft, Walt Disney, IBM, Intel, Warner Brothers, and Matsushita – are said to have agreed "in principle" on letting consumers make their own legal backups of next-generation DVD discs and share their content on portable players. 

 Calling the technology they're pledging to develop "Advanced Access Content System," the companies said late July 13 that they're hoping to have a product available to license later in 2004.

According to numerous reports, the next-generation DVD disc is expected to deliver superior audio and high-definition video in spite of studios and manufacturers not yet having consensus on which among several competing formats will prevail as an industry standard.

For now, DVD discs are protected by the Content Scrambling System which blocks copying, but the computer and consumer electronics industries have been pushing the media world to make room for less-encumbered media sharing between television sets, computers, and portable devices like MP3 players.

 From AVN

A bill that would all but ban peer-to-peer file swapping services was introduced in the U.S. Senate June 23 – a bill that would make it simpler to sue KaZaA, Grokster, Morpheus, eDonkey, and other P2P for "intentionally inducing" copyright infringement.

Some Washington analysts have suggested already that the bill isn't likely to become law anytime soon, if at all – Congress has just over a month left to work before their recess for fall election campaigning.

Among other things, this bill would contravene a federal court ruling last year which held a P2P network could not be held liable for what its users do, including swapping copyrighted music and film files. But Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), the new bill's chief sponsor, said encouraging children to commit crimes – as he believes P2P networks do – is illegal and immoral.

Capitol Hill has lately taken up a tougher stance against P2P swappers. In March, the Senate Judiciary Committee approved a bill that would mandate time behind bars for those swapping large amounts of music or film files online.

Titan Media, who are involved themselves in a lower-key manner of stopping P2P swapping of their adult film and video products, is taking a cautious view of the new proposal. We feel there definitely has to be some change in the law, in the interest of protecting copyright and protecting children from gaining access to adult material, said Titan attorney Gill Sperlein to AVNOnline.com.

Michael Weiss, the chief executive of StreamCast, the makers of Morpheus, has pressed Capitol Hill not to impose new restrictions on P2P. He told the Senate Commerce Committee P2P networks are already working to educate their users about copyright law and online risks and dangers. But the Recording Industry Association of America has accused Weiss and similar thinkers of throwing up smokescreens to divert attention from copyright infringement.

The Federal Trade Commission is one government agency which thinks the P2P networks could do a better job of disclosing the risks – viruses, spyware, and unwanted adult materials passing through the networks, often unwittingly – far better than they do now.

From The Register

A new Beastie Boys' CD called To the Five Boroughs (Capitol Records), is raising hackles around the Web for reputedly infecting computers with a virus.

According to a recent thread at BugTraq, an executable file is automatically and silently installed on the user's machine when the CD is loaded. The file is said to be a driver that prevents users from ripping the CD (and perhaps others), and attacks both Windows and Macs.

The infected CD is being distributed worldwide except in the USA and UK, which prevents us from giving a firsthand report. However, according to hearsay, we gather that the Windows version exploits the 'autorun' option, and that the Mac version affects the auto play option.

On Windows, when a CD is loaded, a text file called autorun.inf is read, and any instructions within it are executed. In this case, the machine is instructed to install some manner of DRM driver that prevents copying. We haven't seen either the .inf file or any of the executables, so we can't say how or at what level it accomplishes this - or if indeed it actually does accomplish this.

But assuming that the unconfirmed reports are accurate, we have here a media company infecting users' machines silently with a file that affects a computer's functionality, without first obtaining informed consent: a likely violation of pretty much every jurisdiction's anti-hacking laws. It's possible to foresee criminal charges being brought at some point: after all, having a good reason for spreading malware has never been much of a defence in court. And a file that alters a computer's functioning without the owner's informed consent is the very definition of malware. Because this malware can be transferred from machine to machine on a removable disk, and requires user interaction to spread, it is, quite simply, a computer virus. (A worm, on the other hand, is distinguished by its ability to spread without user interaction.)

CD virus protection
Let's look at the ways this autorun business can be defeated. It's quite easy to disable autorun in Windows by holding down the Shift key when loading a CD. Unfortunately, this has to be done each time the CD is played. However, it's easy to insert the CD once with the Shift key depressed, and then simply rip the tracks to the hard disk. You can then use the CD in other devices, and listen to your corresponding MP3s or whatever on your computer.

You can also disable the autorun "feature" on your Windows machine permanently so that this and other CDs infected with viruses won't affect you in the future.

To do this, go to the Start menu ==> Run, and type in the command regedit. Your registry editor will launch. Navigate to the following key, and edit as shown:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\CDRom and set Autorun DWORD=0

It might be necessary to create the value, thus: Data Type: DWORD Value Name: Autorun Value: 0

As usual, you must reboot your Windows box for the changes to take effect.

Disinfection
The above procedure assumes that you haven't previously installed the suspected Capitol Records virus, or a similar one from another fine entertainment conglomerate. But if you have, you will need to find and uninstall the malware first. The autorun.inf file on the CD will likely indicate the name of the relevant file(s), the locations where they're installed, and any registry changes made.

Armed with that information, go to the Windows 'uninstall' utility:

Start menu ==> Settings ==> Control Panel ==> Add or Remove Programs ==> Change/Remove.

Look for any program files referenced in the autorun.inf file and uninstall them. If no related programs are listed, you will need to launch the Windows Search Companion and search for any files named in the autorun.inf file and delete them manually. Be sure to activate the options in the "more advanced features" dialog allowing you to search the entire disk (search system folders, search hidden folders, and search subfolders).

Now, a word of caution: if the Capitol Records virus has updated a library file or driver, deleting it might affect your system's functioning, and you might need to re-install Windows to put things right again. (Carefully log the time needed to do this and include it in your criminal complaint.) However, deleting a foreign executable file is safe, so long as it's not one you actually need. So be careful about file name spellings so that you don't accidentally delete an important file that's spelt similar to the one you wish to be rid of.

From The Register

The Beastie Boys website claims that the copy-control mechanism on the DRM-crippled CD "To the 5 Boroughs" does not install any files on the victim's computer.

According to the notice, the disks use "Macrovision's CDS-200 technology, the same technology being used for the past several months around the world for all of EMI's releases in those territories. This Macrovision technology does NOT install spyware or vaporware of any kind on a users PC. In fact, CDS-200 does not install software applications of any kind on a user's PC. All the copy protection in CDS-200 is hardware based, meaning that it is dependent on the physical properties and the format of the CD. None of the copy protection in CDS-200 requires software applications to be [installed] onto a computer."

A recent report by New Scientist quotes an EMI spokesperson vehemently insisting that "there is no spyware on the discs." According to New Scientist, EMI admits that one piece of software is downloaded on to a computer's hard drive, but say this is only a graphical skin that provides the user with the stop, start and volume buttons needed to play the music. This also uninstalls when the CD is removed, the company says.

As yet, we've not been able to obtain the disk and observe how it functions because it's not distributed in regions inhabited by Register staff. We do have one on order from Canada, but it will not arrive for at least a week, perhaps later.

Reader Gabriel Bassett recommends using the TweakUI tool available from Microsoft to disable autorun, because it's simpler than the manual registry hack we recommended in our original coverage.

Finally, we will publish an update after we've received and had a chance to play with the Beastie Boys' DRM-infected disk.

Several of the biggest players in the technical and Internet worlds have formed a group to push for overturning the Digital Millennium Copyright Act's prohibition on copy-protection bypass technology on fair-use protection grounds, and to back a pending U.S. House bill that would do just that.

Formed by Intel, Sun Microsystems, and Verizon, among others, the Personal Technology Freedom Coalition is throwing considerable weight behind the so-called Digital Media Consumers' Rights Act of 2003, a bill by Rep. Rick Boucher (D-Virginia) that would allow descrambling technologies and products to be made and marketed, and copy protection to be circumvented, as long as no copyright infringement is committed.

According to a summary of the bill:

It is not a violation of copyright law, but fair use, to:

1. circumvent a technological measure in connection with access to, or the use of, a work if such circumvention does not result in an infringement of the copyright in the work; or
2. manufacture, distribute, or make noninfringing use of a hardware or software product capable of enabling significant noninfringing use of a copyrighted work,

The PTFC is said to have met with representatives of more than 20 Congressional offices, and is also said to be arguing not just for fair use but for pressing the point that the DMCA endangers computer research the group believes vital to national security, according to ZDNet News. 

The group members also include SBC, Qwest, Gateway, BellSouth, Philips North America, the Consumer Electronics Association, the American Library Association, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Consumers Union, the Consumer Federation of America, Public Knowledge, the American Foundation for the Blind, the United States Telecom Association, and the Computer and Communications Industry Association.

The limited introduction into commerce of 'copy-protected compact discs' has caused consumer confusion and placed increased, unwarranted burdens on retailers, consumer electronics manufacturers, and personal computer manufacturers responding to consumer complaints, conditions which will worsen as larger numbers of such discs are introduced into commerce, says the text of the Boucher bill.

Recording companies introducing new forms of copy protection should have the freedom to innovate, but should also be responsible for providing adequate notice to consumers about restrictions on the playability and recordability of 'copy-protected compact discs, The Federal Trade Commission should be empowered and directed to ensure the adequate labeling of prerecorded digital

From The Register

Holidaymakers in Greece could face a spell in jail if they're caught buying pirate CDs, the BBC reports. The International Federation of the Phonographic Industries (IFPI) has warned that it will be pushing for prosecution of buyers of pirate CDs, and stressed: "This is not a symbolic measure."

Greece is top of the IFPI's hit list, with counterfeit sales equalling genuine ones at a claimed 10 million a year, and available for as little as €6. The IFPI's current trophy is a man jailed for three months for buying two counterfeit CDs last week, and who therefore serves as an awful example.

Having had little success in dealing with the vendors, the IFPI is now switching its efforts onto buyers, and with the Olympics coming up it surely can't be long before quantities of tourists end up in the slammer. &reg

From Green Consumer Guide

The StopEsso campaign will be allowed to continue using its ‘double-dollar’ logo, following a final ruling in Paris this week on the long-running legal battle.

Esso France objected to the adapted use of their logo on the StopEsso website in July 2002, claiming that the imagery was used without permission and the double ‘$’ symbol evoked that of the Nazi SS unit. The complaint won an injunction on the use of the symbol by the site.

In response the campaign, run by Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth and People and Planet, moved the website to Texas to escape censorship of the logo in France. An appeal on the injunction led to a French judge remarking that Esso’s case was “unuseful and not serious”.

This week’s judgement marks the end of the case, and victory for StopEsso. Esso has spent millions in its fight to stop the world's government's tackling climate change, and was behind Bush pulling out of the Kyoto Protocol. Esso obviously thought this case would be an easy win but it was wrong. Today's ruling is a victory in the fight to protect the climate against a company that will go to any means to silence its critics, commented Greenpeace campaigner, Anita Goldsmith.

From The Sun

It would seem that record labels are attempting to stamp out on cheap CDs, quite bizarre since it'll stop people buying CDs at all and just pirating them instead; from today's issue of The Sun:

GREEDY music label giants are launching a legal battle against cheap CDs.

The British Phonographic Industry — which represents hundreds of reccord companies — is suing two Internet music stores for selling CDs ffor almost half their High Street price.And they hope by winning a court case against UK-based CDWow.com and Play.com, music fans will be forced to buy their discs at the higher shop price.

Didos Life For Rent — the biggest selling album of last year — costs £13.99 in HMV. But buy it from CDWow.com and you'll get change for seven quid and free delivery. Even buying an album on American website Amazon and paying the airmail postage is cheaper than buying it here — especially if you buy more than one CD as the postage is the same.

It is proof yet again that British music fans are continually being ripped off. Two years ago the Office Of Fair Trading ruled that record companies were unfairly blocking the import of cheaper discs from the rest of Europe.

So why are CDs less expensive on the superhighway than on the High Street? Internet stores cut prices in two ways. First, they don't have any of the overheads of big stores such as HMV, Virgin and Our Price. They don't have to rent a shop floor in the centre of town or spend money to display CDs in fancy racks. They also have far fewer staff. But most importantly, many Internet stores import CDs from the Far East, Asia and North America where they are cheaper because record companies there take a smaller percentage of sales income.

Record companies here claim they have to add on extra expenses for paying artists, recording costs and distribution to the price of each disc. It's an excuse that many music fans will find hard to swallow.

Unfortunately, the BPI claims the law is on their side. It is illegal to import even one CD from outside the European Economic Area. So by purchasing a discounted album from, say, North America, a crime is being committed.

BPI spokesman Matt Phillips defended the decision to sue CDWow.com and Play.com, saying: Let's get one thing straight — the BPII is not against people shopping for their music on the Internet. Online shopping is a great alternative way to buy your music and many people enjoy it immensely. But to buy cheap CDs from outside the EEA is illegal. If we find that products are sourced outside the EEA we would have to take action

However, CDWow.com insist they were given permission by the record companies to supply CDs worldwide. The case is due to go before the High Court next month

From The Register

Jon Lech Johansen, creator of the DECSS DVD crack, won't be going back to court. The Norwegian Economic Crime Unit (Økokrim) today confirmed that it will not appeal the upholding of his acquittal on copyright charges to the Norway's Supreme Court. To be precise, Økokrim confirmed its withdrawal from the case by failing to lodge an appeal within the requisite deadline.

Which is nice. If entirely expected. Last month, a Norwegian appeals court upheld Johansen's earlier acquittal on all counts of alleged copyright violations, much to the irritation of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA).

He was alleged to have broken the law by writing and publishing a DVD descrambling program, DeCSS, so that he could watch films he owned on a Linux PC. It earned him the nickname DVD Jon.