EMI Considers Outside Inspection of CD Copy-Protection Technology

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on January 20, 2006 - 2:49am.

London - In the wake of the Sony BMG CD copy-protection debacle, major record label EMI is considering a request from a digital civil liberties group to enable security researchers to examine its own copy-protection technology for potential risks, ZDNet UK reported. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) sent an open letter to EMI, asking for assurances that researchers would not face legal recourse when studying its copy-protection technology, which is provided by Macrovision; the EFF claimed some researches have previously received legal threats from copy-protection vendors. "Music fans deserve to know whether EMI's copy-restricted CDs are exposing their computers to security risks," said EFF senior staff attorney Fred von Lohmann. "When it comes to computer security, it pays to have as many independent experts kick the tires as possible, and that can only happen if EMI assures those experts that they won't be sued for their trouble." An EMI spokesman told ZDNet UK its copy-protection has "no rootkit issues" and "never loads DRM onto a user's hard drive without the user's permission."
http://news.zdnet.co.uk/internet/security/0,39020375,39248198,00.htm
http://www.eff.org/news/archives/2006_01.php#004294