FTC Urged to Probe Music Sites

The Federal Trade Commission is being asked to investigate websites that claim to offer legal music downloads for a low price but actually sell popular software that is available free elsewhere on the Internet and is commonly used to steal songs.

Such websites typically charge $30 to $40 and prominently advertise services as “100% legal.” Some sites include smaller print warnings that downloading songs without permission violates copyrights and encourage customers to learn more about copyright law at the Library of Congress.

A Washington-based civil liberties group, the Center for Democracy and Technology, said it planned to file a formal complaint today with the trade commission charging such websites with deceptive trade practices.

“They’re fooling people into spending money to buy products that are competing with legitimate products,” said Alan Davidson, an associate director for the group.

Lawyers for one site, www.mp3downloadhq.com, wrote Monday in a letter that the company “genuinely regrets that anything it has done or failed to do has been interpreted ... as potentially confusing or misleading.”

The company, Active Publishing of Burbank, promised to remove the phrase “100% legal” from its website before Friday.

The Center for Democracy and Technology said its FTC complaint targets two sites, www.Mp3DownloadCity.com and www.MyMusicInc.com, which the group said did not respond to its requests for information. The sites did not respond to telephone and e-mail inquiries Monday from Associated Press.