Topic: Embedded info in music downloaded from iTunes?

[Nemesis]

Link to full article

With great power comes great responsibility, and apparently with DRM-free music comes files embedded with identifying information. Such is the situation with Apple's new DRM-free music: songs sold without DRM still have a user's full name and account e-mail embedded in them, which means that dropping that new DRM-free song on your favorite P2P network could come back to bite you.

That said, it would be trivial for iTunes to report back to Apple, indicating that "Joe User" has M4As on this hard drive belonging to "Jane Userette," or even "two other users." This is not to say that Apple is going to get into the copyright enforcement business.

I have given CDs, tapes and records as gifts in the past but giving digital music bought and downloaded from online sources is now not legally safe.  It also makes it an issue with selling your music collection or the music collection you inherit.

[Commander Maxillius]

Why didn't I see this before I updated to iTunes 7.2... arg...

[Electric Eye]

I would not worry too much Nem, I'm sure some group of people somewhere are working on something that can break it and remove that crap. Lord knows the pirate techs always break Direct TV and Dish Network scramblers. Yup, the Mexicans are getting all channels for pennies on the dollar again (3 month pirate card programmed for 60 bucks) while us Yanks get raped by the corporations.

[Nemesis]

The ability to remove it seems to exist already.  Unfortunately so does the ability to falsify it. 

I'm against it in principle but haven't bought any online music and if I did I wouldn't distribute it so I am not directly at risk.  There are those here who do have such music and should be aware of the risks.