Interesting People mailing list archives
Re: Apple embeds email address in DRM-free downloads
From: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Fri, 1 Jun 2007 09:00:59 -0400
Begin forwarded message: From: Joe Touch <touch () isi edu> Date: May 31, 2007 11:06:22 PM EDT To: dave () farber net Subject: Re: [IP] Apple embeds email address in DRM-free downloads FWIW, email is NOT embedded (ARS Technica never said email was, BTW); your AppleID and billing name are. Results of two tests are shown below. Conclusion: your AppleID is tied to the song; the song won't play without it. While you can create a bogus billing name, your AppleID is tied to yourcredit card info. Apple won't issue an AppleID without a valid credit card.
So, AFAICT, "iTunes Plus" is *not* DRM free. They're managing digital rights if they force the tag to remain in the song, IMO. Joe --------- TEST 2: "Free song of the week", under "iTunes Plus" (DRM free) I tested: - downloading the "free song of the week" (DRM free) I found: - my AppleID - my name (as part of my billing address under my account) I did not find any other information associated with my account, e.g., I did NOT find: - my email address - my street, city, state, or zip code - my phone number When I zeroed out the AppleID and name above, the song would no longer play - iTunes was happy trying, but acted like the file was corrupt, and played only a half a second or so. Conclusion: "free song of the week" is not DRM-free ----------------- TEST 2: "Free song of the week", not under "iTunes Plus" (not DRM free) I tested: - downloading the "free song of the week" (not DRM free) NB: there is no indication that this is DRM-free I found: - my AppleID - my name (as part of my billing address under my account) I did not find any other information associated with my account, e.g., I did NOT find: - my email address - my street, city, state, or zip code - my phone number When I zeroed out the AppleID and name above, the song would no longer play - iTunes reported that I needed to authorize my computer to play songs owned by the blanked-out ID. Conclusion: the non-DRM "free song of the week" not DRM-free (to be fair, they never assert that it would be) ---- David Farber wrote:
Begin forwarded message: From: "Steven M. Bellovin" <smb () cs columbia edu> Date: May 30, 2007 5:38:47 PM EDT To: dave () farber net Subject: Apple embeds email address in DRM-free downloads According to Ars Technica, Apple's iTunes site embeds account information, including full name and email address, in all purchased songs. This includes the DRM-free songs available starting today.http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070530-apple-hides-account- info-in-drm-free-music-too.html(I have not yet independently verified this.) --Steve Bellovin, http://www.cs.columbia.edu/~smb
-- ---------------------------------------- Joe Touch Sr. Network Engineer, USAF TSAT Space Segment ------------------------------------------- Archives: http://v2.listbox.com/member/archive/247/=now RSS Feed: http://v2.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/247/ Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com
Current thread:
- Re: Apple embeds email address in DRM-free downloads David Farber (Jun 01)
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- Re: Apple embeds email address in DRM-free downloads David Farber (Jun 01)
- Re: Apple embeds email address in DRM-free downloads David Farber (Jun 01)
- Re: Apple embeds email address in DRM-free downloads David Farber (Jun 02)
- Re: Apple embeds email address in DRM-free downloads David Farber (Jun 02)
- Re: Apple embeds email address in DRM-free downloads David Farber (Jun 04)