Apple is keeping quiet about what it is doing with the private information it is storing on iTunes customers in its "DRM-free" music range.

Each DRM track contains a huge amount of private data which is pressed into the track to prevent piracy.  The idea is that the information could be used to find out who places tracks on P2P sites.

However the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a consumer watchdog group, said the embedded user information in the purchased track raises privacy issues.  The information is likely to cause Apple problems in the EU, where the EC is already concerned about how Apple uses data gathered in its iTunes digital jukebox. Apple is refusing to get involved in the storm.