Re: [dvd-discuss] Fwd: FC: California woman sues CD company over user-tracking technology

["James S. Tyre" <jstyre(at)jstyre.com>]

I believe that it is.  And while CA B&P Code sec. 17200 isn't quite the 
dragon it used to be, it still has plenty of fangs.

At 01:27 AM 9/7/2001 -0400, Wendy Seltzer wrote:
>Is this the first consumers' rights complaint against "digital rights 
>management"?   The complaint accuses Charley Pride's record label of 
>unfair business practices for violating customers' reasonable expectations 
>about the portability of purchased music recordings and for violating 
>their privacy.
>
>>To: politech@politechbot.com
>>From: Declan McCullagh <declan@well.com>
>>
>>The complaint is here:
>>http://www.techfirm.com/mccomp.pdf
>>
>>********
>>
>>From: ira@techfirm.com
>>To: <declan@well.com>
>>Subject: Lawsuit filed against Cloaking Company and Record Company
>>Date: Thu, 6 Sep 2001 14:22:40 -0700
>>
>>Declan,
>>
>>Enclosed is a link to information about a lawsuit that we filed today
>>against a Record Company and Sunncomm in which we alleged unfair business
>>practices and privacy violations related to Sunncomm's "Cloaking"
>>technology.
>>
>>http://www.techfirm.com/mcrel.pdf
>>
>>If you have any questions please let me know.
>>
>>Ira P. Rothken
>>Rothken Law Firm
>>415-924-4250
>>ira@techfirm.com
>>www.techfirm.com
>>
>>
>>Fahrenheit Entertainment and Sunncomm are Sued for Violating Privacy Rights
>>of California Consumers and for Unfair Business Practices
>>Consumers are given no warning on the CD package that they cannot listen to
>>CD music on their family computers anonymously
>
>>FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
>>SAN RAFAEL, Calif., September 6, 2001
>>A California woman sued Fahrenheit Entertainment, Inc. and its label 
>>Music City
>>Records today on behalf of the General Public of the State of California, 
>>to enjoin
>>them from selling music compact discs that have been designed, 
>>programmed, and
>>implemented to defeat the rights of consumers that include misleading 
>>advertising,
>>defective notices, and invasions of privacy. The suit alleges that 
>>Fahrenheit and
>>Music City never disclosed on the shrink-wrap of certain "impaired" CD(s) 
>>that
>>consumers couldn't listen to music on their computers anonymously. If left
>>unchecked, this will be the start of an era where consumers will be 
>>coerced to give
>>up their privacy to listen to music on their computers.
>
>>The lawsuit was filed in California Superior Court - Marin County. The 
>>lawsuit, entitled
>>DeLise v. Fahrenheit Entertainment, Inc. et al, alleges that Fahrenheit 
>>failed to disclose
>>that unlike millions of Music Compact Disc(s) ("CD") sold before it that 
>>Fahrenheit's CD
>>entitled "Charley Pride ­ A Tribute to Jim Reeves" will not work on 
>>standard audio CD
>>players found on millions of personal computers, that electronic music 
>>files made
>>available for download pursuant to purchase of its CD are proprietary in 
>>nature, that
>>such electronic music files will not work on portable MP3 players, and 
>>that the CD
>>includes a proprietary electronic music scheme in conjunction with 
>>Sunncomm (also
>>named in the suit) technology that tracks, stores, and disseminates 
>>specific consumer
>>personal identifying information, listening data, and downloading habits 
>>to entities
>>beyond the control of the consumer. There is no practical way to opt-out 
>>of the data
>>collection or destroy the data once it is collected.
>
>>"Fahrenheit, in our view, has an obligation to the General Public to 
>>truthfully and
>>adequately inform them, before the CD sale is made, about what they are 
>>taking from
>>them as a condition of playing the music CD on a family computer, namely 
>>personal,
>>private information. Consumers have a right to privacy and to be free 
>>from false and
>>misleading advertising, protected by the laws of the State of California. 
>>It is our view
>>that Fahrenheit and Music City do not disclose the privacy intrusion and 
>>other
>>limitations with specificity on the CD container since it would likely 
>>hurt sales. If the
>>defendants want to implement Digital Rights Management technology they 
>>have to do
>>so responsibly so the consumer can make an informed decision about buying the
>>burdened CD" said Ira Rothken, an attorney representing Karen DeLise, on 
>>behalf of
>>the General Public of California.
>
>>The Plaintiff is requesting an injunction against Fahrenheit and 
>>Sunncomm, stopping
>>them from tracking consumer habits and requiring the Defendants to 
>>provide adequate
>>notice of the privacy intrusions and CD deficiencies.
>
>>If you wish to discuss this case or have any questions please contact 
>>Plaintiff's lead
>>counsel, Ira Rothken of THE ROTHKEN LAW FIRM at 415-924-4250 or via e-mail at
>>ira@techfirm.com. The law firm web site is located at 
>>http://www.techfirm.com.
>>CONTACT: ROTHKEN LAW FIRM
>>Ira P. Rothken, Esq., 415/924-4250
>>
>>
>>
>>
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>
>--
>Wendy Seltzer -- wendy@seltzer.com
>Fellow, Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School
>http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/seltzer.html


--------------------------------------------------------------------
James S. Tyre                               mailto:jstyre@jstyre.com
Law Offices of James S. Tyre          310-839-4114/310-839-4602(fax)
10736 Jefferson Blvd., #512               Culver City, CA 90230-4969
Co-founder, The Censorware Project             http://censorware.net