Will Your CD Player Tell on You?

An anonymous reader writes "Ever feel like not being a marketing statistic? Well just by playing certain store-bought compact discs in your home or office computer, your new music disc may be transmitting your listening habits in real time to the respective record company...." Charming. Read on for more... Anonymous Continues: "A company by the name of Bandlink is providing technology to record companies that allows a cd played in a personal computer to contact their server and relate statistics such as what track you're listening to and when you're listening to them. This information is then compiled into customizable reports that allow the record company to develop "User Profiles". There are benefits listed for the consumer such as cd-specific chatrooms, concert information, etc but the question remains: What's your price for privacy? The only indication that the cd you're purchasing is Bandlink "enabled/disabled" is a small logo on the packaging. There is no mention of a opt in/opt out agreement when the cd is inserted on the website and none was displayed in a personal demonstration.

Favorite quote from their website: "Virtually any information you want to know about your fan or the quality of your release can be obtained.""

Comments

Re:IN SOVIET RUSSIA

[Ando[evilmedic]]

Congrats, you just killed this joke for the whole world.

I mean... it was funny occasionally when it was well-formed and made sense. After a while, any joke that's long-run will eventually die at the hands of a lesser joke-teller. Noone can ever associate themselves with that joke again, because they remember the time that the joke-killer commited his foul act.

Example 1:
"In Soviet Russia, the MAIL opens YOU." is funny. Because normally, you open the mail, which is a normal, ok, everyday act. This makes the reversal - 'mail' opening 'you' - absurd and clever.

Example 2:
"In Soviet Russia, YOU spy on MUSIC INDUSTRY!" is not funny. Because normally yes, I guess the music industry can spy on you, but this is sort of out of the ordinary. It doesn't really happen that much, if at all. This makes the reversal - 'you' spying on the 'music industry' - drab, anticlimactic and downright unfunny.

Re:My desktop is my property

[garcia]

yup. Don't install the software...

Don't agree to their EULA and you are fine.

use a firewall

[tq_at_sju]

use any of the available free firewalls so that you can control what goes and doesn't go out to the internet on your computer, the one i use is Zone Alarm at www.zonealarm.com. I block real media player from accessing the internet all the time