Microsoft spies on music fans

Microsoft has been spying on unwitting music fans who have downloaded CDs and DVDs from the internet.

Microsoft has been keeping tabs on the activities of users of its latest version of Media Player, which is bundled with Windows XP.

Rupert Battcock, IT lawyer at law firm Nabarro Nathanson, said: "By not informing users they were being tracked straight away, Microsoft has breached the first data protection principle, with a lack of clarity in letting people know they were tracing them."

Following pressure from the media, Microsoft updated its privacy statement yesterday to inform users the software has and will continue to track DVD and CD downloads of individual computer users.

However, the company has not said how or if a user might be able to switch the tracking function off.

Battcock added: "There might be a case for Microsoft to be more upfront about informing users they are being tracked. Microsoft has to say what it is collecting information for, in line with the Data Protection Act's regulations on the collection of personal data."

Piers O'Hanlon, network security researcher at University College London, said: "Microsoft has used very underhand tactics. Companies are trying to obtain as much information about users as they can by pushing the boundaries of the Data Protection Act."

He added: "Microsoft and similar organisations are seeing how far they can go with customer profiling. They need to have an eye kept on them."

The software gives each computer user an individual identity number that may be used to hack into the computer and used to spy on individual's habits.

Microsoft was unable to comment.