CD with anti-copying technology won't play on Linux

From: alayne _-at-_ cfsc.ottawa.on.ca (Alayne McGregor)
To: canada-dmca-opponents (at) flora.org
Cc: Alayne McGregor <alayne -_at_- cfsc.ottawa.on.ca>
Date: Wed, 21 Nov 2001 15:04:57 -0500 (EST)

From the BBC.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/entertainment/new_media/newsid_1668000/1668143.stm

It's not clear if copies released in North America have the same problem.

Wednesday, 21 November, 2001, 11:41 GMT 
Imbruglia CD sparks complaints
Imbruglia's record company says that complaints are few

Buyers of Natalie Imbruglia's latest album are complaining to the
record company about an anti-copying device which means it will
not play on some CD players. 

The new CD, White Lilies Island, comes with embedded technology
which prevents the CD being copied into MP3 files - but also
prevents it being played in some older CD and DVD players, and certain PCs. 

Imbruglia fans have been voicing their concerns on her website. 

One posting on the site said that the CD would not work in some
older stereo systems and does not function in DVD players with
audio CD capabilities. 

Another complained that the CD would not play on computers
running the Linux operating system. 

Record company BMG has admitted it is "concerned" about
the complaints but says that complaints have only been
received from about one customer for every 1,000 CDs shipped to shops. 

The company said that the exercise was a "test" but added
that BMG would continue to pursue the use of technologies
which would prevent CD copying.

"The testing phase is proceeding in a way that we want to pursue it,"
said BMG spokeswoman Regine Hofmann. 

Imbruglia's CD contains technology called Cactus Data Shield,
developed by Tel Aviv-based company Midbar. 

Similar CD copy protection was also included on 10,000 CDs
released by Sony in the Czech Republic and Slovakia last year. 

Alarm 

Sony has also been testing the technology on the last album from
boy band 'N Sync. 

Sony, BMG and the other major record companies - Universal,
Warner and EMI - all are keen to employ technologies that will limit
the digital duplication of CDs. 

But some consumers are alarmed - and say that record retailers are
not making the distinction between normal and copy-protected
CDs clear enough. 

In September a California woman sued a record company and
technology firm in September after she found out her new Charley
Pride CD contained a copy protection scheme that prevented it
from being played in her PC. 

Karen DeLise's attorney has said she is not seeking damages, but
would like better information about what CDs will and will not do on
the packaging. 
-- 
Alayne McGregor
alayne@cfsc.ottawa.on.ca / alayne@ncf.ca

"Pain is infectious, or to be more exact, contagious -- it requires a certain
contact, a closeness to slip in. If I feel, if I care, if I love, then life
can kick me in the heart at any time it chooses.... I would rather this didn't
happen, on the whole."
-- A.L. Kennedy, _So I am Glad_
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