News Archive for 07/06/02

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Apple mum on DRM-free music privacy issues

06/02, 3:45pm

DRM-free music privacy

Apple has declined to comment on why it stores users' names and emails in its DRM-free music offered through iTunes. Earlier this week, the company officially launched its higher quality, DRM-free music with the release of iTunes 7.2, which brought a few growing pains. EMI's historic agreement with Apple removes any copyright protection on music, allowing users to playback music on virtually any device if they purchase the the more expensive DRM-free version of the song. However, now privacy advocates are beginning to question Apple's move to include the information with each song. Unlike competing services such as eMusic which offer DRM-free music without any strings attached, several sites reported that Apple embedded personal information such as a user's name and email.