Sony drops DRM ball

Remove all ads!

Okay, firstly I'm not quite sure where to put this - it's definitely 'news', but at the same time, it relates to both music CDs and computer operation (and potential hindrance to that operation ) I hedged my bets and piped up here since I'm confident this would DEFINITELY be appropriate for this forum

So.

You'd better be careful with those "Copy Protected CD"s if they're made by Sony BMG!

See cNet's article

as well as Mark Russinovich's 4-part blog about how he DISCOVERED this by accident while testing some anti-spyware software.

I find the funniest things are:

a) the ironic album titles involved (Mark with Get Right with the Man, another person on his site with Suspicious Activity...) and
b) the fact that this stuff is being exploited by people hacking WoW to not be detected by Blizzard's anti-cheat software! (see here )


P.S. I did a search first for "Sony BMG", "DRM" and "rootkit" to make sure I'm not duplicating things, and the ONLY match I found was here for 'rootkit', about "Annoying, unremovable spyware", posted 30 October, 2004
.
.
.
A year and a day before Mark discovered the Sony/F4I rootkit! [spooky music]

 

With this, there's also DRM on their upcoming PS3 (or so its rumored)
http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=27568
Joy to not being able to do anything with a cd... coaster fans rejoice.

 

This is total and complete !

As said in the article on cNet, "we've long since crossed the line"...but Sony has now crossed a different line, a line shared by viruses and other malware!

I hold true to my belief that 'Any program that is on my computer is there because *I* put it there.' I hope there are people and other companies currently seeking a way to safely remove and totally block this bulls**t.

I for one will not stand for it. Sony, you've gone too far this time!

Geeze, and I thought WMP's "play for sure" bulls**t was bad.

 

Personally, I stopped buying music CDs some 5 years ago when I found that I couldn't play Nightwish's music on my comp due of these "anti-piracy" measures. Ironically, I nowdays download all my music from the net.

If they put this into hardware, I'm sure I would stop upgrading my PC too -or start removing these security-chips against a fee.

 

We're living in cyberpunk...

 

DRM hardware and software is coming fast (Windows Vista for one). As for this rootkit thing, there is already a virus out that takes advantage of it. Several more will probably be found in the coming days.

 

yeah, I can't believe how incredibly stupid was Sony with this stuff. Installing rootkits on your customers' computers... that's just asking for trouble. (More info about a trojan using the SONY DRM rootkit for cover here ). What the heck were they thinking?

On the bright side, they are getting sued in California over this, and soon in NY State. Maybe that will teach them. OTOH, I don't buy music CD, so I don't really care in this particular instance, but the principle matters

 

Another class-action suit in Italy, too. The big daddy - the EFF - is also gathering info to see if *they* can field a lawsuit.

And the wonderful thing here is, the very same DMCA that Sony, RIAA, and the other 'big brothers' pushed, and used to sue individual would apply against Sony here - they've already made the precedent that laws overrule an EULA - so in circumventing the customer's computer security with the rootkit hiding the player as well as providing an umbrella for any other malware to exploit, a media conglomerate gets hoisted by its own petard...

 

Sony seems to get into even more trouble: More Sony Problems to be Revealed

 

Bwahaha, Texas also joined the fun Texas Attorney General web page

and the kicker at the end

That's quite an amount of money. (OTOH, RIAA also asks for some ridiculous amount of money for each 'violation' in lawsuits filed agains file-sharers. Can't say I am sorry to see them hoisted on their own petard).