A leading consumers-rights watchdog has heavily criticised the music industry for placing unreasonable restrictions on the use of tracks downloaded legally over the internet.

The National Consumers Council today said that the digital rights management (DRM) technology used by record labels to control online music is "undermining consumers' existing rights under consumer protection and data protection laws."

Music companies have been hit hard by the illegal sharing of music over the internet in recent years. DRM have been developed to limit the number of times a song may be copied, or restrict it to certain types of device such as personal computers or digital music players.

However, some moves have prompted a backlash from customers. The record label SonyBMG was recently forced to withdraw millions of DRM-protected CDs after it emerged that they could make users’ PCs vulnerable to attack by hackers.

"Consumers face security risks to their equipment, limitations on their use of products, poor information when purchasing products and unfair contract terms," Jill Johnstone, director of policy at the National Consumer Council said.

"While we recognise the value of intellectual property rights, we have little confidence in self-regulation by the industry."

The consumers' watchdog called on MPs to consider introducing laws to ensure that restrictions did not interfere with users' ability to play the music they have bought and to make copies for personal use.

In its submission to the All Party Internet Group, the group cited cases in which DRM-protected CDs could not be played in home stereo systems and said that some practices have more to do with commercial interests than with protecting copyright.

Consumers who wish to buy a new type of digital music player may have to re-purchase tracks they already own in a different format, the document notes, while regional coding, which limits the use of DVDs to the continent for which they have been produced, is described as a tactic to "segment markets".

The music industry's long-running battle to control piracy increased dramatically with the introduction of digital music. Record labels were initially reluctant to make music available over the internet at all. Their hesitation created the demand for file-sharing applications. As a result, illegally copied music became widely available on the internet, free of charge.

Apple’s decision to launch the iPod and its accompanying online music store iTunes created a legal download market, which has been wooing listeners back from illegal sources with promises of higher-quality files and better security.

However, music bought from iTunes cannot be used on digital music players other than Apple’s iPod, and users may not make more than seven copies. That may sound like a lot, but many families now have multiple computers, laptops and music players in their homes and cars, each of which would require its own copy.

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