Consumers are being frustrated by digital locks on music and movies
A UK consumer watchdog has called for new laws to protect users'
rights to use digital music and movies.
The National Consumer Council (NCC) said anti-piracy efforts were
eroding established rights to digital media.
The NCC had little faith that industry self-regulation would
adequately protect consumers' rights.
It made its comments to a parliamentary inquiry into technologies
that limit what people can do with CDs, DVDs and downloaded media.
No faith
In its submission to the inquiry, the NCC said many consumers were
regularly running up against the restrictions record companies and
film makers put on their products.
The consumer group said people were finding that they could not make
compilations for their own use or easily move digital copies between
different devices.
In its statement to the inquiry it said the digital locks put on
content were "constraining the legitimate consumer use of digital
content".
Also being undermined were rights established by consumer protection
and data protection laws, it said.
"Consumers face security risks to their equipment, limitations on
their use of products, poor information when purchasing products and
unfair contract terms," said Jill Johnstone, the NCC's director of
policy.
She added that the group had little faith that self-regulation by
media makers would protect consumer rights.
Sony woes
As a case in point, the NCC referred to the furore over the methods
Sony BMG used to stop some of its CDs being copied.
The music maker suffered a long bout of bad publicity following the
discovery that its anti-piracy system used virus-like techniques to
hide itself.
The row led to Sony BMG being sued by many consumers and many US
states. Eventually Sony recalled the CDs using the most controversial
anti-piracy software and offer refunds to consumers who suffered.
It has also stopped using some copy protection systems following the
row.
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