inCommunicado - eric eggertson

The business model being pursued by the big music companies is so out of touch with what consumers want, it scares me. What if they prevail, and any music rights owned by a big company becomes so tied up in digital rights that the customers can no longer listen to the music they have bought?

Cory Doctorow takes a close look at the Sony End User Licence Agreement (EULA), and the terms you have to agree to when you transfer Sony music from a CD to your computer are ridiculously restrictive: 

1. If your house gets burgled, you have to delete all
your music from your laptop when you get home. That’s because the EULA
says that your rights to any copies terminate as soon as you no longer
possess the original CD.

2. You can’t keep your music on any computers at work.
The EULA only gives you the right to put copies on a "personal home
computer system owned by you."

3. If you move out of the country, you have to delete
all your music. The EULA specifically forbids "export" outside the
country where you reside.

4. You must install any and all updates, or else lose
the music on your computer. The EULA immediately terminates if you fail
to install any update. No more holding out on those hobble-ware
downgrades masquerading as updates.

5. Sony-BMG can install and use backdoors in the copy
protection software or media player to "enforce their rights" against
you, at any time, without notice. And Sony-BMG disclaims any liability
if this "self help" crashes your computer, exposes you to security
risks, or any other harm.

6. The EULA says Sony-BMG will never be liable to you
for more than $5.00. That’s right, no matter what happens, you can’t
even get back what you paid for the CD.

7. If you file for bankruptcy, you have to delete all the music on your computer. Seriously.

8. You have no right to transfer the music on your computer, even along with the original CD.

9. Forget about using the music as a soundtrack for
your latest family photo slideshow, or mash-ups, or sampling. The EULA
forbids changing, altering, or make derivative works from the music on
your computer.

It will be a cold day in hell before I buy anything from Sony. I don’t actually care if they are being scapegoated by bloggers and others. They deserve every bit of damage to their brand that they suffer.

Can You Spell Boycott?

I find their approach to their customers’ rights so offensive  that I’m putting them on my DO NOT BUY list (and I’m not talking about stock market recommendations).

Check out other bloggers commenting on Doctorow’s post.

Thanks to David Parmet for the link.

My related posts: 
Revealing my Briefs
AOL’s Content-grabbing Legal Terms