More on Sony's "DRM Rootkit"

A couple of days ago we posted a story about Sony DRM installing a rootkit. Since then we have seen many more stories on the subject that I thought were worth sharing. manno gave us a link to the inquirer and salemnic sent us a page from the washington post. smallfries gave us one from PC Pro. It's nice to see this story not getting lost in the cracks since the implications are gigantic.

Comments

Hope it catches on

[Anonymous Coward]

"infected with DRM"

Love it. Great phrase. Maybe it'll catch on.

Simple Solution: Boycott Sony to Death

[snotclot]

Ok sure, so boycotting Sony is not realistic. Or is it...? We can really do without them. Screw their stupid DRM'ed Memorysticks, we have our SD and CompactFlash. Screw their VAIO's, we have Dell and Taiwanese laptops.. Screw their TV's, we have better ones from other brands. Screw PS3, we have XBOX2 and Nintendo Revolution. Screw PSP, we have Nintendo DS. Once they get the collective shaft, well, other companies will think twice before pulling shit like this.

Re:Sue

[voice_of_all_reason]

Based on the grounds that it re-routes the windows instructions on how to play *all* audio CDs. If you remove the DRM by force, you lose the ability to play other music as well.

Contains LAME code?

[Sulka]

Interesting.. Some reports Finnish reader of this news in Sektori.com (in Finnish) reports Contents\GO.EXE file seems to contain parts of the LAME player. Can anyone verify this? Is Sony distributing LGPL software on the CDs?

Re:Sue

[LurkerXXX]

There is no way for a normal user to remove the software. It comes with no uninstall program, nor is it listed in the windows add-remove programs.

If you can manage to find the hidden software files and do delete tehm as suggested in the EULA, you will no longer be able to access your CD drive.

Funny how no mention of those points are made in the agreement.

H.R. 2929

[spurtle15]

Has this passed? Is it applicable?

(4) inducing the user to install a computer software component onto the computer or preventing efforts to block installation of a software component;

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d108:h.r.0 2929:

If they used racketeering laws to go after the RIAA, why not antispyware legislation against this?

My Letter to Sony

[macklin01]

Hello.

I have just learned about the malware that Sony has started to add to "compact disks" (in quotes, because Sony breaks the CD standard) via poorly-written DRM software from First4Internet. It is simply unconscionable that Sony would resort to such unethical lengths to prevent the pirating of a software. In fact, criminal trespass comes to mind, given that the software differs from what is described in the EULA and non-removable.

I'm outraged at this behavior demonstrated by Sony, and I can assure you that I am no longer a Sony customer. In short, although I am a computer enthusiast/technologist who builds his own systems and enjoys gaming, and although I am a scientist who uses high-end computing resources on a daily basis, I won't be purchasing any of the following from Sony in the next few years:

1) Stereos and portable audio equipment
2) Flat screen televisions, plasma TV's, etc
3) High-end computer LCD monitors
4) Laptop computers
5) Computer CD and DVD drives
6) Sony-branded CD, DVD, and floppy disk media
7) PlayStation 2 or 3
8) PlayStation Games
9) PlayStation Portable

and needless to say,

10) Sony and BMG music.

If you break standards on DVD equipment, add Sony and Columbia TriStar movies to that list.

Thank you for making my future purchase decisions so much easier.

Sincerely,

****

Sony in violation of DMCA?

[softcoder]

If SONY circumvents the security I have installed on MY machine with their rootkit are THEY in violation of the DMCA?