A UK-based consumer rights group has called for MPs to introduce new laws to ensure consumers’ rights to use digital content are protected. The use of digital rights management technology on CDs, DVDs and music downloads to control or restrict the use of copyrighted digital works shows that the current regime of self-regulation is failing to protect consumers’ rights, according to the National Consumer Council (NCC).

In a submission to an All Party Internet Group (APIG) inquiry into the subject, the NCC highlights the controversial use of rootkit-style DRM technology by Sony/BMG in arguing that industry can’t be trusted to act alone. The NCC reckons DRM constrains the legitimate consumer use of digital content, for example, by preventing consumers from playing DVDs they’ve bought abroad or in making compilations of material they have purchased for their own use. These restrictions undermine consumers’ existing rights under consumer protection and data protection laws.

Source: The Register