iTunes embeds account information into songs

01 Jun 07 16:30 by Seán Byrne in category Uncategorized To news archive

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When someone purchases a song on iTunes, one thing they may not realise is that iTunes embeds some account information into the song file, including the user’s full name and account e-mail. As a result, a song that gets leaked out can be potentially traced back to the owner. However, as all iTunes music up until recently has been crippled with DRM, this has not been an issue, since no one would distribute a DRM crippled file knowing that it will only play on a limited number of authorised devices.

Now that iTunes has launched its DRM free iTunes Plus service, some consumers may assume that it is ok to pass a copy of their purchased music on to friends now that these will play without restriction. However, as the songs carry the owner’s account information, there is a high risk that if someone ends up sharing out the songs online, anti-piracy organisations can easily view this embedded information. While it is not clear if there is any audio watermarking present, the information is embedded as plain text within each song.

However, one drawback with the plain text information is that it can be easily spoofed, which means that if a copyright iTunes track is discovered on a file sharing network, it would be difficult to tell if the embedded info has been spoofed. The info would also be lost if the song is converted into MP3 or any other audio format.

Thanks to GristyMcFisty for letting us know about this news.

10 Comments

jumpyg: Posts: 254; Posted on: 01 Jun 07 17:51

Wow, that really sucks. I guess we'll have to wait for a program that will strip out this information. That's really kind of creepy.
This message was edited at: 01-06-2007 17:53

guest: Posts: 15288; Posted on: 01 Jun 07 18:16

I am not sure if that information can be used in face of a court in Germany for example. According to German rights, you are allowed to give music to your friends and these friends can also give the music to their friends as long as each person doesn't share the file to more than eight persons. So if your friend is a jerk and puts the files online, even if the files have another account information, the friend is the one to blame and not the original purchaser.

yronnen: Posts: 69; Posted on: 01 Jun 07 19:09

For once, I will not argue about this issue. The fact is that consumers complained about the fact that DRM crippled cannot be played on all of their devices. Removing FRM allows the consumer to play their music freely, but not to share it on the p2p networks; which is (let's admit it) a fair solution. Sharing music on p2p is not legal in many places, and if a consumer still does it, he should face the consequences.

Bobverens: Posts: 241; Posted on: 01 Jun 07 20:33

I agree, that this is an equitable solution to the DRM issue. People who still insist "sharing" on P2P networks and other public venues will find it's a no-brainer to convert the files to other codecs and strip the info from the files. But for the rest of us who want to transfer their legally purchased music files to our PCs, laptops, etc. it's a welcome resolution.

applegodel8: Posts: 151; Posted on: 02 Jun 07 07:28

No it's not, and really think why? This has been my biggest fear in blending user info in media, if someone steals that media from you, whether it be your ipod or a ACC CD that contains those files. Its not your fault if someone stole it, and they put it on P2P, you would then be responsible, not the thief!

jumpyg: Posts: 254; Posted on: 03 Jun 07 02:11

That's a great point applegodel8. If someone swipes your ipod and puts a song on a P2P network, you are on the hook, and there is no way to prove you're innocent. This is a silly idea and violates the privacy of iTunes users. No way should personal information be embedded into media files.

guest: Posts: 15288; Posted on: 04 Jun 07 08:24

"...there is no way to prove you're innocent." - there is if you report the theft to the Police asap and ensure you get a crime reference number. But you would have to do it asap, there's no point waiting until a month later when the crap might have hit the fan.

applegodel8: Posts: 151; Posted on: 04 Jun 07 16:53

"there is if you report the theft to the Police asap and ensure you get a crime reference number. But you would have to do it asap, there's no point waiting until a month later when the crap might have hit the fan." If that is done you would have wide spread police reports on stolen ipods and the police would complain its costing to much money to do it. Police are complaining in Las Vegas about Pot smokers and what its costing them to jail and process them, they want the drug made legal cause of it!

old3eyes: Posts: 96; Posted on: 05 Jun 07 09:02

I wonder if this info is carried thru to a conversion to Audio CD then back to MP3 or the like

guest: Posts: 15288; Posted on: 05 Jun 07 18:04

>Its not your fault if someone stole it, and they put it on >P2P, you would then be responsible, not the thief! That's already what some "victims" lobby groups want passed into legislation in Canada in real world terms. That is, if someone steals a gun, baseball bat, knife, car or whatever from your house and uses it while committing a crime, you're going to be charged with that crime. The idea being that it's your fault for not securing your "dangerous" property to prevent the theft to begin with.

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iTunes embeds account information into songs

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