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Sony BMG Music (Canada) Inc., which became embroiled in a class-action suit after it was revealed the record company was installing malicious software on users' computers as a method of enforcing its digital rights, has landed in hot water again over its proposed settlement.

Today, the Ottawa-based Canadian Internet Policy & Public Interest Clinic filed a complaint with regulatory agencies across the country against the recording giant, protesting against details of the settlement, which are far less generous than those offered to U.S. claimants.

CIPPIC filed its complaint on the same day that an Ontario court is expected to accept a proposed settlement to a Canadian class-action lawsuit. It was filed with the federal Commissioner of Competition; the director of the Consumer Services Bureau, Consumer Protection Branch, Ministry of Government Services, Ontario; the director of Business Practices and Consumer Protection Authority of British Columbia; the president of the Office de la Protection du Consommateur of Quebec, and the privacy commissioners of Canada, British Columbia, and Alberta.

The furor started late last year, when Sony was accused of surreptitiously planting digital rights management technologies on music CDs, one of which was a technology called a "rootkit," which did not warn users it was doing so, and left the users' computer vulnerable to malicious attackers.

Sony promptly started to recall CDs that contained the offending software.

The class-action suit was settled earlier this year in the United States, but the Canadian action has not yet reached a conclusion.

Sony, CIPPIC executive director Philippa Lawson said in a statement, "has obstinately refused to include those same consumer protection provisions in the Canadian settlement."

In its proposal, Sony said that due to different regulations in Canada, the suit should be treated differently.

Among the differences is the promise that Sony would protect consumers in the future, a promise made to Americans but not Canadians. In an affidavit, Sony Canada vice-president of legal affairs Christine Prudham, said that "In response to the U.S. government inquiries and the unique U.S. legislation on which they were based, the U.S. settlement also contained a conditional injunctive provision tied to the U.S. Government Inquiries."

In response, Ms. Lawson said: "It's bad enough that Canadians get less money in the settlement, but the exclusion of the consumer protections is completely unacceptable. Canadian consumers deserve the same consideration as American consumers."

Another omission from the Canadian settlement is a promise Sony made to Americans that it would not collect personal data on users, such as their unique Internet Protocol (IP) addresses, which CIPPIC charges violates Canadian privacy laws.

"Sony BMG regularly sues consumers in the United States on the basis of this information, and in the past has tried to do so in Canada," Ms. Lawson added. "We want the privacy commissioners to step in and clarify Sony BMG's obligations with respect to this personal information, because it is obvious that Sony BMG doesn't understand its privacy obligations."

As for the legal argument, CIPPIC staff counsel David Fewer said that hen suspects Sony's "willingness to modify its behaviour through the U.S. settlement agreement played a role in Canadian regulators' decisions not to investigate Sony BMG.

"Why start an investigation when the company has voluntarily agreed to clean up its act? Sony BMG's position on the Canadian settlement, however, shows its true colours: it will only respect consumer rights if forced to," he said.

The Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic was established in 2003 at the University of Ottawa's Faculty of Law to advocate for balance in policy and law-making on issues arising out of new technologies.