Thursday, June 24, 2004
Beastie Boys CD installs DRM "virus"
According to this Register article, all Beastie Boys "To The 5 Buroughs" CDs sold outside of the US and UK are infecting users computers with a digital rights management "virus" when the CD is loaded. Allegedly, the file is a driver that prevents users from ripping the CD.
The article charges that this driver qualifies as a "virus" because it "can be transferred from machine to machine on a removable disk, and requires user interaction to spread."
I'm not sure about whether I would call it a virus; however, I would call it sneaky and underhanded (those are legal terms, I think) to automatically install anything on a user's computer with explicitly explaining what is being installed.
And in the case of this type of driver, couldn't the user be considered in violation of the DMCA if they tried to remove or uninstall the driver (since it serves as copy-protection)?
According to this Register article, all Beastie Boys "To The 5 Buroughs" CDs sold outside of the US and UK are infecting users computers with a digital rights management "virus" when the CD is loaded. Allegedly, the file is a driver that prevents users from ripping the CD.
The article charges that this driver qualifies as a "virus" because it "can be transferred from machine to machine on a removable disk, and requires user interaction to spread."
I'm not sure about whether I would call it a virus; however, I would call it sneaky and underhanded (those are legal terms, I think) to automatically install anything on a user's computer with explicitly explaining what is being installed.
And in the case of this type of driver, couldn't the user be considered in violation of the DMCA if they tried to remove or uninstall the driver (since it serves as copy-protection)?
¶ 8:48 AM 
About Shawn Morton
Married father of 4, social media strategist at Nationwide, consumer electronics enthusiast, hair metal aficionado.
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