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06/26/2004: "Beastie Boys' "Copy Protection Virus""
The new Beastie Boys CD, To The 5 Buroughs, has a lot of folks' panties in a knot... not because of the music or lyrical content... but because of the "Copy Protection Virus."
This seems to have started from a mailing list post, which alleges that the DRM/ Copy Protection mechanism on the new CD silently installs software on the user's PC.
According to the Beastie Boys' site, the copy protection scheme used on the discs is only on non US/UK discs, and is the standard operating procedure of Capitol/EMI for European distribution. The site contains text from EMI's statement:
While the Beastie Boys CD does use copy control in some territories, there is no copy control on the Beasties Boys discs in the US or the UK. Where copy protection is used, it is Macrovision's CDS-200 technology; the same technology being used for the past several months around the world for all of EMI's releases in those territories. This Macrovision technology does NOT install spyware or vaporware of any kind on a users PC. In fact, CDS-200 does not install software applications of ANY KIND on a user's PC. All the copy protection in CDS-200 is hardware based, meaning that it is dependent on the physical properties and the format of the CD. None of the copy protection in CDS-200 requires software applications to be loaded onto a computer.
The technology does activate a proprietary Macrovision player in order to play the CD on a PC, and that player converts WMA compressed files to audio on the fly. It also temporarily installs a graphic "skin" for the player. Nothing is permanently installed on a hard drive. These details can be verified in the 'install.log' file in the computer's root directory.
The dunderhead who wrote that statement obviously misunderstands the computing community, particularly the average Slashdotter's anal-retentive attention to detail. Example:
If none of the copy protection requires software applications to be loaded, why does the very same article say that it sets up an audio player in RAM?
"We installed DRM software into RAM but we did not install it onto the computer"
"I smoked pot, but I did not inhale."
"I did not have sex with that woman."
Another good example:
>This Macrovision technology does NOT install spyware or vaporware of any kind on a users PC.
What a relief, we can only imagine what disastrous effects it might have if Duke Nukem Forever were to be surreptitiously installed on the defenseless hard drives of innocent beastie-boy fans.
The statements about how silently installing software on a user's machine is the behavior of a computer virus is absolutely correct. Record companies are exposing themselves to serious potential class-action lawsuits by ignorantly tinkering with DRM technologies which exhibit this type of behavior.
While I wonder if the fact that the original post was on a site called "Security Focus" seems to give the post more credibility than it deserves, it's obvious that record companies are wasting a lot of time and effort to control the behavior of computer users. Requiring that an album be played back using a proprietary player might be shadily dodged as being "legal," but it's definitely a stupid move. Record companies should pay attention to the software industry's experience with copy protection. Bottom line: somebody will build de-copy protection software eventually... and it's an uphill, pointless battle.
Then again, record companies have tons of money from habitually ripping off artists and will have even more once they move all their operations to India, so they obviously have money to burn persuing stupidity. Too bad they don't choose to compensate artists, or invest in something that has/could have a tangible value to society.
I can't imagine that the Beastie Boys are pleased to hear all the hype about this, but the truth is that you can't shake the devil's hand and say you're only kidding. This is where the party ends*, guys... it's time to step up and denounce all this stupidity... and take steps to compensate your fans who have bought DRM/Copy Protected discs that won't work in their CD players.
Links to message board threads/articles on this subject:
* These lyrics from They Might Be Giants are fitting, even though the connection between TMBG and the Beastie Boys may only be in my head. 
