From our front-page news:
Just one week after the proposed "iPod tax" was dropped, Jennifer Stoddart, the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, speaks up loudly regarding her concerns for DRM. This comes at a perfect time, as a bill that would have pushed DRM to the limelight continues to be pushed back, essentially allowing more time for such arguments.
Stoddart's concerns revolve around privacy, not the fact that content providers want to protect their product. In her public letter, she made mention of the Sony BMG fiasco that contained a severe privacy breach, and she, along with many of us, don't want to see something like that happen again. It's great to finally see someone with authority speaking up and providing valid concerns. If something is to make a dent in the case, this might be it.
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Stoddart points to the Sony BMG rootkit fiasco as a real-world example of the problem. The Windows-only content protection software included on selected CDs cloaked its presence, collected information about what discs were played, and sent the data (and a user's IP number) to Sony BMG. That made the software a privacy concern, not just something for IP lawyers to debate. "That this occurs when individuals are engaged in a private activity in their homes or other places where they have a high expectation of privacy exacerbates the intrusiveness of the collection," Stoddart wrote.
Source: Ars Technica
Stoddart's concerns revolve around privacy, not the fact that content providers want to protect their product. In her public letter, she made mention of the Sony BMG fiasco that contained a severe privacy breach, and she, along with many of us, don't want to see something like that happen again. It's great to finally see someone with authority speaking up and providing valid concerns. If something is to make a dent in the case, this might be it.
<table align="center"><tbody><tr><td>
</td></tr></tbody></table>
Stoddart points to the Sony BMG rootkit fiasco as a real-world example of the problem. The Windows-only content protection software included on selected CDs cloaked its presence, collected information about what discs were played, and sent the data (and a user's IP number) to Sony BMG. That made the software a privacy concern, not just something for IP lawyers to debate. "That this occurs when individuals are engaged in a private activity in their homes or other places where they have a high expectation of privacy exacerbates the intrusiveness of the collection," Stoddart wrote.
Source: Ars Technica