Last.fm again denies snitching on us, CBS disses blogs

Sounding vaguely like a bunch of sleazy boyfriends, Last.fm & CBS want us to know that baby, they really, really didn’t have anything going on with the RIAA. And all that scrobbling, that was ours and it meant something and they would never, ever share it with someone who might sue us or our tweens for many thousands of dollars.

The debacle began when Universal Music Australia accidentally leaked tracks from the then-unreleased U2 album No Line on the Horizon. At the time, rumors flew across the blogosphere that the RIAA was demanding (and receiving) scrobbling data from Last.fm to grass up P2P hooligans (with questionable taste in old-dude rock.)

When allegations of data sharing between Last.fm, parent company CBS and the RIAA were first raised in February, denials were issued all around to anyone who would listen- infused with outrage that we would even suspect such a thing. True or not, it kind of reminded everyone that a lot of what we send out into the internet ether could land up somewhere, stick, and come back to bite us on the ass someday.

The story resurfaced this week after a blog previously accused of fabricating Last.fm stories went for a second round. In response, CBS issued yet another statement to Ars Technica yesterday denying any and all canoodling with the RIAA. And the RIAA backed up their alleged BFF CBS, as rep Cara Duckworth coyly told Ars that “we’ve made no such request for this information.” (Hmmm… that’s kind of… vague.)

And charmingly, CBS had this to say to the Wall Street Journal‘s Tech Blog:

…those who consult such blogs should be aware of the standard by which such postings are sourced and published.

Because we all know the best way to get bloggers to trust and believe you is to attack their credibility.