Supporters of the Campaign for Digital Rights will take part in a Day of Action this Saturday, by distributing leaflets outside major record stores across the UK, warning consumers of the existence of the new "copy-protected" CDs.

Leafletting events are currently planned in Birmingham, Brighton,Cambridge, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, London, Newcastle and Rugby.

See  http://uazu.net/cd/volunteers.html for an up-to-the-minute list.


BACKGROUND

Record companies have started to introduce new "copy protected" CDs into the shops. These disks are designed to function differently from normal CDs in that they allow the record companies to control consumers' usage of music, curtailing customers' choice as to which playback systems they may use and when, and restricting copying of music, irrespective of whether such copying would be legal.

Several so-called "copy-protection" schemes have been spotted in the wild, controlling usage of particular CDs currently on sale in the UK and Germany. Most schemes involve the introduction of deliberate errors in the music or track data, which prevent the normal operation of particular types of CD players, specifically many CD-ROM drives, Playstations and DVD drives, all of which are commonly used by consumers for enjoying music. These errors may decrease the durability of the disks, by increasing its vulnerability to scratches.

More disturbingly, the use of some of the new breed of CDs is to be mediated via the Internet: if a customer takes a CD controlled by the scheme marketed by US firm SunnCom out of an audio CD player and places it in her computer, she may find herself taken to an Internet website and required to trade her personal details in return for a "licence" to listen to the music she believed she had already bought. In the event that a customer has no Internet connection, or if the firm mediating access were to go bust, the CD would be rendered useless on a customer's computer. Most British homes do not have the necessary Internet bandwidth to download large amounts of audio data in a reasonable time, and some consumers may not have the money to purchase an audio CD drive in addition to their computer's CD drive.

The music industry claims the new CDs are a necessary step to thwart unauthorised copying, but they also prevent legitimate uses. While the protection mechanisms can easily be circumvented by those intent on doing so, innocent consumers have no way to restore the sound quality, repair damaged CDs or avoid the inconvenience these measures impose.

"If I go into a shop, and pay 15 UKP for a CD, I expect that CD to work on all the CD playing devices I own, including CDROM drives in my PC or laptop," said Julian Midgley, Leader of the UK Campaign for Digital Rights, "Similarly, if I buy someone a CD for Christmas, I don't expect to get a phone call from them in six months time saying 'My old CD player failed, so I bought a DVD drive instead. But that CD you gave me won't play in it.'

"If the record industries want to experiment with copy protection, let them do so in their laboratories, and not at the expense of the general public. And if they want to sell these CDs, let them make the warning labels prominent and truthful."

The UK Campaign for Digital Rights will be compiling a database of all affected titles, and asks anyone who comes across a CD that won't play successfully on their equipment to send details to  dodgy-cd@uk.eurorights.org so that our research team can buy a copy and determine which "copy-protection" scheme is in use, and what limitations this imposes on the purchaser.

For the low-down on these CD "copy-protection" mechanisms see:  http://uk.eurorights.org/issues/cd/.

Full details of Saturday's action (including how to volunteer to run an event) may be found at:  http://uk.eurorights.org/calendar/

For general information on the Campaign for Digital Rights, see  http://uk.eurorights.org/


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Julian T. J. Midgley |  http://uk.eurorights.org/
Leader - UK Campaign for Digital Rights | Mobile: 07713 166000
Cambridge, England. | PGP Key ID: 0xBCC7863F