Los angeles: Complaints continue to mount regarding a controversial CD copy-protection initiative by Sony BMG Music Entertainment.
Artists and consumers' initial concern was that the digital rights management technology does not work with iPods.
Now a growing number of music fans charge that the security software behaves like spyware may create security vulnerabilities in users' computers.
The matter drew increased attention in technology circles October 31, when software developer/computer security expert Mark Russinovich began blogging the details of trouble while using a CD.
Problems arose after using his computer to play the copy-protected CD of Get Right With the Man by Van Zant, a Southern rock act signed to Columbia Records.
Russinovich posted that Sony BMG's DRM (Digital Rights Management) drained resources from his computer processor, even when the CD was not being played, and was extraordinarily difficult to locate and uninstall.
When he finally deleted the software, his computer's CD player stopped working.
"This is a clear case of Sony taking DRM too far," he wrote.
Within 24 hours, online tech-news sites including SlashDot and CNet had posted news about Russinovich's account.
And by November 2, Sony BMG had posted instructions on its own site (cp.sonybmg/xcp) for removing the DRM.
Copy-protection software is not actually spyware, of course.
And industry executives have long pointed to piracy rates in defense of DRM measures.
Consumers on average acquire almost 30 per cent of their music annually by burning and ripping CDs, according to the NPD Group.
But Russinovich and others complain that Sony BMG's latest DRM lacks transparency and a simple uninstall option.
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