It was recently reported that the latest Beastie Boys album will install software on your computer without your permission if you put it in your Windows computer or your Mac. This report describes it as "copy protection software," but admits they're not sure what it does. They do say it provides an uninstaller for Windows, but they don't know how to get rid of the Mac version.

An official response has been posted to The Beastie Boys website: The US/UK releases will not have this on it. All EMI discs have this. It isn't spyware, and isn't installed to the hard drive: instead, it's Macrovision's CDS-200, which blocks ripping but allows for playing on a computer by running a special audio player that plays the disc directly. Not a Linux computer, of course, just a Windows or Mac computer.

An earlier post to their message board claims the Beastie Boys object to the practice but "weren't allowed to go against EMI policy in these territories." Supposedly the "bonus video" included on the US/UK version is the only reason they lack the copy protection.

I don't even have a CD player that isn't a computer any more.