Privatunes Anonymizes iTunes Plus

njondet writes "French-law.net reports that Ratatium.com, a French website specialized in technology news and software downloads, has just launched Privatunes, a free software that anonymizes DRM-free files bought on iTunes Plus. Last month's revelations that the DRM-free files sold by EMI on iTunes Plus came with user's full name and account e-mail embedded in them had raised serious privacy concerns. Ratatium.com explains (in French) that Privatunes is aimed at guaranteeing the privacy of users but also their rights as consumers to freely share and trade the songs they have purchased. However, the claim that this software is perfectly legal will surely be tested."

Comments

It's proof of purchase for future lossless upgrade

[gig]

If you want to upgrade your 256 kbit/s AAC to lossless in a couple of years then leave the proof of purchase IN your iTunes Plus tracks. It enables iTunes to tell that you bought the track from iTunes Store. If you use this app on your iTunes Plus tracks you will be buying lossless for full price like a newbie.

France folks, FRANCE

[rueger]

IANAFL* but here come a 100 comments and criticisms based entirely on sketchy understandings of American copyright law, none of which have any relevance in France.


* I Am Not A French Lawyer

So does the Audio:M4P::QuickTime perl module

[vtkstef]

the method name is CleanAppleM4aPersonalData(). Here is an example on how to use it:

#!/usr/bin/perl
##
# A N O N C P . P L
#
# a script that takes the unix cp file specification options
#
# perl anoncp.pl source_file target_file
# perl anoncp.pl source_file ... target_directory
#
# which reads the source file(s) and copies them to the
# destination stripped of all the user identification gunk
# that apple adds on iTunes "DRM free" songs
#
# NB: make sure you install the latest version of the
# most excellent Audio::M4P::QuickTime perl module.
##

use strict;
use warnings;

use Carp;
use File::Basename;

use Audio::M4P::QuickTime;

my $usage = q{
usage:
        perl anoncp.pl source_file target_file
        perl anoncp.pl source_file ... target_directory
};

@ARGV >=2 || croak "not enough files specified", $usage;

my $destDN = pop(@ARGV);
my $destFN = $destDN if (! -d $destDN && @ARGV == 1);

$destDN = dirname($destFN) if( $destFN);

-d $destDN || croak $destDN, ": is not a directory", $usage;
(-r $destDN && -w _) || croak $destDN, ": cannot access ", $usage;

$destDN =~ s{ (?new( file => $m4aFN);
        $qt->FindAtom("mp4a") || croak "$m4aFN: not a mpeg 4 file\n\t";

        $qt->CleanAppleM4aPersonalData();

        $toFN = $destFN ? $destFN : $destDN . basename($m4aFN);
        $qt->WriteFile($toFN);
}

0;

Re:This is sure to get us somewhere

[jb.hl.com]

trading digital files is no different than trading pokemon cards or pogs.

I'll bite. Trading (copyrighted) movies, games, music etc is different from trading Pokemon and Pogs for the simple reason that Pokemon and Pogs are sold with the explicit intention that they be traded and spread across a wide audience. CDs, DVDs and games generally aren't.

Not to mention, since when did anyone you know "trade" MP3s (as in send someone a music file, then delete their copy)?

Do not rely on the current version!!!

[Peter Eckersley]

The current version of Privatunes blanks out the name and Apple ID/email fields from iTunes Plus files, but it doesn't remove all of the fields that Apple, or a litigant subpoenaing Apple, could use to identify a user. There are two of those, marked sign and chtb, which I posted about here.

There are some other differences between copies of a track purchased by different users, but they're only a byte or three here and there. Probably still worth blanking. vbindiff on *nix (or a similar hexdiff program for other platforms) will show you these fields.