[The Wall Street Journal Interactive Edition]
November 2, 1999

Tech Center

RealNetworks to Issue Software Patch
To Block Program's Spying on Users

By DON CLARK
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

RealNetworks Inc., acknowledging it had improperly gathered information
about consumers' listening habits, said it will issue software code to
prevent a popular product from sending personal data to the company.

The Seattle concern said it will issue what programmers call a software
patch to modify the operation of its RealJukebox program, which allows
computer users to play and manage computerized recordings from compact disks
and Internet sites. Unbeknownst to users, the software regularly transmitted
information over the Internet to the company, including what compact disks
users played and how many songs were loaded on their disk drives.

RealNetworks' practice, the subject of a story in Monday's New York Times,
was criticized by privacy advocates.

"When we really wrapped our minds around this we became convinced that we
screwed up," said Rob Glaser, RealNetworks' chief executive. "We are going
to do our best to try to remedy the situation expeditiously."

RealNetworks isn't the only Internet music specialist to gather information
about listeners' behavior. MusicMatch Inc., a music software maker that
announced a marketing pact with Microsoft Corp. Monday, said the latest
version of its jukebox software gathers information about listeners'
activities to help suggest new music to them.

But MusicMatch informs users about that process and gives them a chance to
opt out of it. RealNetworks didn't, an omission that appeared to contradict
a privacy policy backed by TRUSTe, a nonprofit industry group that allows
Web sites to display its seal of approval.

Dave Steer, a TRUSTe spokesman, said the group would be studying whether
RealNetworks had violated its contract with the organization. "We are deeply
concerned," he said.

RealJukebox, which has 13.5 million registered users, is offered in a free
version or a more sophisticated version for $29.99. When users first
download the product, they are asked to give their names and e-mail
addresses and are assigned an identifying
number.

Richard Smith, a computer-security consultant in Brookline, Mass., recently
found that the product each day was sending information to RealNetworks that
included his identifying number and recent listening activities. Mr. Smith
said the number could be linked to his name in the company's registration
database. The situation makes it at least theoretically possible that a
record company seeking copyright infringers, for example, could get a
subpoena that could compel RealNetworks to disclose information about
consumers' activities in copying CDs.

Mr. Glaser said the company had only been seeking an accurate count of the
number of people using the product. "We should have asked for users'
informed consent," he said.

Tara Lemmey, president of a privacy group called the Electronic Frontier
Foundation, said RealNetworks and others are likely to continue to face
close scrutiny, but called the software patch a step in the right direction.
"They have vastly improved
the situation from what it was," she said.
URL for this Article:
http://interactive.wsj.com/archive/retrieve.cgi?id=SB941493116158595376.djm
Hyperlinks in this Article:
(1) http://wellengaged.com/engaged/wsj.cgi?c=WSJ7&t=372
Copyright © 1999 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.


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