Sony Music oops!!

Sargeras · Post by **Sargeras** » November 9, 2005, 3:06 pm

2 class action law suits have started already because of it as can be seen in the following link. http://music.tinfoil.net/modules.php?na ... e&sid=1357

Is Sony Hacking into Your Computer?

One of the biggest technology news stories to break last week was the Sony rootkit story, and we got lots of mail from readers about it. It seems that Mark Russinovich from Winternals (http://www.winternals.com) discovered a "rootkit" lurking on his hard disk and tracked it back to the Digital Rights Management (DRM) software that's part of Sony Music's new audio CDs. So what's a rootkit anyway, and why is this such a big deal? Read about it on Mark's blog at:
http://www.wxpnews.com/rd/rd.cfm?id=051108TI-Sony

The question nobody seems to be asking is: Can Sony possibly be the only music company that's using such technology? Or are they just the first ones to get caught?

masteen · Post by **masteen** » November 9, 2005, 3:31 pm

Typical heavy-handed RIAA tactics. They're not entitled to install software on our PCs without consent (and hiding it in a media player is NOT consent), and the fact that it cannot be uninstalled is complete bullshit.

miir · Post by **miir** » November 9, 2005, 4:34 pm

Was talking to a co-worker about this horseshit earlier this week.

People who are actually paying for thier product are the ones getting the shaft. This is a piss fucking poor implementation of anti-pirating measures actually encourages pirating (in a roundabout way).

Who are the ones who will find a way to circumvent this?

I don't want hidden programs fucking with my computer if I should want to listen to my CDs on my PC. When you download pirated music, you computer is probably at a lower risk of getting fucked up.

Artists/bands should be outraged by this crap.
The record companies are making enough of a profit, they should concentrate on developing anti-piracy programs that don't punish legitimate consumers.

Sabek · Post by **Sabek** » November 9, 2005, 5:40 pm

Switchfoot, one of the bands that Sony used this on their CD, actually posted on their website the best ways to bypass the protection.

Hoarmurath · Post by **Hoarmurath** » November 9, 2005, 8:32 pm

According to <a href="http://online.securityfocus.com/brief/34">this article</a>, some enterprising youths are using this technology to aid them in cheating at World of Warcraft.

Zaelath · Post by **Zaelath** » November 9, 2005, 8:39 pm

The Warden is almost as ethically dubious as this Sony shite.. well, perhaps almost is too strong

Noysyrump · Post by **Noysyrump** » November 9, 2005, 8:48 pm

wow thanks for posting this. Im sure ive installed this on my home comp (maybe) and it is easy to check for (make fiile named $sys$test.) and see if it vanishes...

miir · Post by **miir** » November 9, 2005, 10:30 pm

Zaelath wrote:The Warden is almost as ethically dubious as this Sony shite.. well, perhaps almost is too strong

Not even fucking close.

Warden doesn't try to hide itself from your operating system.
This DRM rootkit shit is just dirty, really fucking dirty.

miir · Post by **miir** » November 16, 2005, 3:12 pm

Update.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10069563/

Aslanna · Post by **Aslanna** » November 17, 2005, 1:49 pm

For example, experts showed that the anti-piracy software "phones home" to Sony BMG and to the company that created the software, First 4 Internet Ltd., with details of user's music-listening habits.

Nice!

Hours after Sony BMG announced its buyback, researchers at Princeton University found that even the patch the company released to remove the anti-piracy software contains security problems. The patch leaves behind coding that allows any Web page the user visits to download, install and run programs on the computer.

Siji · Post by **Siji** » November 17, 2005, 5:29 pm

There's music worth buying these days?

Chmee · Post by **Chmee** » November 17, 2005, 6:41 pm

Siji wrote:There's music worth buying these days?

Yes.

noel · Post by **noel** » November 18, 2005, 1:56 pm

Siji wrote:There's music worth buying these days?

If you'd pull your head out of your ass for a few minutes, you'd realize that this has fuck all to do with music.