James Delahunty
21 Jan 2006 19:40
The UK's National Consumer Council (NCC) has called for new laws to protect the rights of consumers to properly use purchased digital content. In a submission to a parliamentary inquiry into technologies that limit what people can do with CDs, DVDs and downloaded media, the group said that anti-piracy efforts were eroding established rights to digital media. The NCC fears a self-regulated industry will fail adequately protect consumers' rights.
The group said that honest consumers were constantly clashing with digital content protections that were put on their products by major record labels or movie studios. Many consumers complained about not being able to easily move digital copies between devices, like the thousands of iPod owners who couldn't store music on their iPods because of DRM. The NCC said such digital locks are "constraining the legitimate consumer use of digital content."
It said that rights established by consumer protection and data protection laws were being undermined. "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. As an example, the group pointed out the recent XCP and MediaMax discoveries that turned into an on-going public relations nightmare for Sony BMG.
Source:
BBC News