Celine Dion: Hacker?

The release of Celine Dion’s newest CD this week heralded not only the singer’s hopeful comeback to the world of music, but also a potential career change for the Canadian chanteuse. With the release of her new latest album, A New Day Has Come, Dion may be preparing to undergo the unprecedented transformation from diva to hacker. Or even terrorist.

In Europe, Dion’s newest release incorporates Sony’s Key2Audio technology, a copyright protection technology that has the unfortunate effect of crashing the computers of users who insert the disc into their machines. The Key2Audio technology is designed to thwart unauthorized piracy of music using personal computers, but the methods used to achieve this end may have disastrous consequences for unsophisticated users. Though the discs carry explicit warning labels, it is probable that average users will not fully comprehend the warnings and inevitably lose unsaved data when they insert the disc into their machine.

One might wonder if the Key2Audio-protected version of the album has only been released in Europe due to its lack of comprehensive computer fraud and abuse legislation, currently only under consideration by the European Union Parliament. Had the album been released in the United States, it is likely that Dion and her record company would be in violation of the US Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. Specifically, consumers would be able to launch action under US Title 18, Part I, Chapter 47, Section 1030, Subsection (a), Paragraph 5, Subparagraph (A):

Whoever knowingly causes the transmission of a program, information, code, or command, and as a result of such conduct, intentionally causes damage without authorization, to a protected computer shall be punished as provided in subsection (c) of this section.

Successful prosecution under this law would translate into a fine, imprisonment, or both. In fact, under the newly anointed Anti-Terrorism Act, it’s possible that either Dion’s record company or the singer herself could be prosecuted as a terrorist, something that would no doubt delight the singer’s critics.

Of course, this is all conjecture. Is it likely that a record company would fall victim to the same legislation designed to protect the American public from nefarious ne’er-do-well hackers? Probably not. Given the precedent-setting nature of such a case, the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) would undoubtedly mobilize its lawyers to defend its members’ right to protect their intellectual property. However, the resulting lawsuit would require Dion, her record company, and the RIAA to position themselves opposite the United States’ formidable anti-hacking laws.

If the RIAA won such a fight, it would not only eliminate its customers’ right to access music they had already purchased, it would also set a dangerous precedent that would risk crippling law enforcement’s ability to pursue criminals for unauthorized computer access. Given the United States’ desire to crack down on cybercrimes, it is unlikely that it would throw away its primary tool for battling cybercriminals just to appease the music industry. And perhaps the audacity of such an attempt would finally be enough to convince the public to put the media giants in their place.