SONY asks everyone to bend over

[Tromp]

http://www.cnet.com/4520-6033_1-6376177.html?tag=nl.e501

We're not gonna take it
But let me start at the beginning. On Monday, October 31, alert users discovered that Sony BMG is using copy-protected CDs to surreptitiously install its digital rights management technology onto PCs. You don't have to be ripping the CD, either--just playing it from your CD-ROM drive triggers the installation. The software installs itself as a root kit, which is a set of tools commonly used to make certain files and processes undetectable, and they're the favored tool of crackers who are, as Wikipedia puts it, attempting to "maintain access to a system for malicious purposes." In fact, root kits are often classified alongside Trojan horses. And Mark Russinovich, who created a root-kit detection utility and was one of the first to blog about the Sony intrusion, discovered another little gem when he tried to remove the DRM drivers. It broke his computer--disabling his CD drive......

Click link to read more. Where's the ACLU on this one?

[Edited on 11-28-2005 by Tromp]

[xtc]

Yeah this is a little over the top. I don't think this large companies get it. If I buy a CD I want the right to turn that CD into mp3 files so I can play it on my mp3 player.

I suggest you email Sony President and tell him/her what you think of their intrusive technology and how that you won't be buying of their CD's. Then I would email bands on the Sony/BMG label and tell them that you will no longer buy their CD's, go to their concerts or buy their merchandise as long as they distribute these kind of CD's.

[Latrinsorm]

And in fact, the president of Sony BMG's global digital business division, Thomas Hesse, told National Public Radio that most people don't know what a rootkit is, so they shouldn't care that it had been secretly installed on their PCs.Not to usurp Backlash's position or anything, but FUCK THE CORPORATION. I hope nobody I like is on Sony.

[Lady Shadow]

I sincerely hope this is not legal. :(

[Latrinsorm]

So I start reading through the list of artists on Sony's website, and I realize pretty much everyone I like on their list is either dead (Jeff Buckley) or not getting their stuff released anyway (Fiona Apple) so I feel pretty good never buying a Sony product ever again. In fact, if I had access to p2p software, I'd go download a bunch of Sony artists' music illegaly just for the hell of it.

[xtc]

Originally posted by Latrinsorm
So I start reading through the list of artists on Sony's website, and I realize pretty much everyone I like on their list is either dead (Jeff Buckley) or not getting their stuff released anyway (Fiona Apple) so I feel pretty good never buying a Sony product ever again. In fact, if I had access to p2p software, I'd go download a bunch of Sony artists' music illegaly just for the hell of it.

I think I will find a list of Sony artists and start doing just that.

http://www.zeropaid.com/

[Numbers]

Sony's already been forced to remove this DRM software and recall the CD's that have it. They're also been forced to provide a removal tool for the rootkit, but that kind of ended up leading to further problems, as it wasn't the best bit of programming.

There's already a few viruses out there that are exploiting the vulnerability this causes.

I know that Texas is suing Sony for a pretty hefty amount under the consumer protection act, as there are still cd's with the rootkit available for sale there.

Sony pretty much shot themselves in the foot with this one.

The funny part?

Anybody can completely bypass the rootkit software on the music CD by placing scoth tape along the edge of the CD, or drawing a big circle around it with a black marker. This renders the software track of the CD (the 1st track) unreadable, so the CD player just skips it and goes to the music tracks.