Fans of the last.fm music streaming/personal playlist program/social network may remember a story from February, where TechCrunch claimed Last.fm handed over personal user data to the RIAA after the latter noticed a leaked U2 album popping up on users’ personal spin charts. Last.fm was quick to shoot down the accusations.
The story has flared up again, this time with Last.fm parent company CBS chiming in:
Both CBS and the RIAA have already stated quite clearly, for the record, that absolutely no individual user or listener information was supplied to the RIAA by last.fm or any division of CBS Corporation in the past, nor do we plan to do so in the future. The story posted by the website was based on an unnamed tipster. No inquiry was made to CBS or last.fm about the veracity of the anonymous source. Those who consult such blogs should be aware of the standard by which such postings are sourced and published.
There you have it. Regardless, an announcement on your personal page just saying that you’ve listened to leaked music is likely not enough evidence for a warrant, so don’t go rushing to delete your Audioscrobbler plug-in, dummy!
