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Sony Music CD's Contain Mac DRM Software Too
brjndr writes "A MacInTouch poster has found that certain Sony CD's also contain a smaller extra partition for 'enhanced' content. Running one of the applications found within this partition installs kernel extensions containing DRM software by SunnComm. In Sony's defense you're told what is being installed within a EULA which pops up when the program is loaded. Thankfully we all read our EULAs completely."
[See my journal entry for my previous comments on this]
To summarise: it's impossible to protect against truly clueless users without severely inconveniencing everyone else, but Mac OS X at least lets you know something dodgy is going on (a request for administration rights, just to play a CD, say what ? No *other* CD's needed that!) I guess it helps to have gorms, though...
THM: It's a difference in attitude. It *does* make a difference.
Simon
Physicists get Hadrons!
According to the comments on the linked page, you have to type in your name/password after agreeing to the EULA. This is really non-standard and hopefully will set off alarms in people's heads when they wonder why they have to do that (OS X doesn't ask for your password often). But something tells me most users will just go ahead and give the app free reign anyway. Not that I blame them, you'd expect to be able to trust Sony, a freaking huge "legitimate" corporation for Pete's sake.
WARNING: If accidentally read, induce vomiting.
Man, actually buying online music is starting to look more and more like S&M. I can hardly wait 'till they come out with CDs that come with shackles that have to be worn while listening to the CD.
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Why yes, I give my admin password out on request!
You would be amazed at what most users will do for music, porn, wallpapers, or screensavers.
Mac OS isn't immune to this kind of crapola - at least not for the average user.
Boy it seems like sony is just running around pissing everybody off...
Well, I for one pledge to no longer purchase any sony products. Nor will I buy online music from sony, purchase any games, or watch any sony movies until they stop being overbearing assholes with their stuff.
Who knows how evil the DRM is, once the install is made, but jeebus... talk about an issue of trust (just for the installer)!
Make sure everyone's vote counts: Verified Voting
Autorun is turned off by default on Macs, and there's never a good reason to turn it on. There's no way this could interfere with the usual insert/launch iTunes/click Rip method most people use.
This is a sign that Mac OS X has a large enough userbase for Sony to worry about Mac users stealing music.
A client of mine once got an email instructing telling her that a virus had been installed on her system. She was to immediately locate a file (I think it was COMMAND.COM) and delete it, which would remove the hazard.
She forwarded it on to me (just in case I needed it, you see) and then sent me a second email because the person who sent her the message had trashed their system, and she thought I was about to do same.
When it comes to stupidity among users, I will believe anything
http://michaelsmith.id.au
Reasonable, yes, but legally workable not really, at least according to Sony. The sony eula says you must destroy any and all fair use copies of the music you possess, if you are no longer in possession of the actual cd. What a concept, your car gets robbed, you get cds stolen and then SONY makes you delete any copies you may have. I'd love to see it in court.
So, in effect, your computer is at less risk if you download Sony published music from peer to peer networks than if you try to play your Sony CD on your computer. Where's the value proposition?
Joe user: What's this I see? I have to enter my password to play a music CD? Oh no biggy, its just a music CD. What harm could it do?
That is my concern. The average user sees it comes from Sony, a "trustable" company, and doesn't give it a second thought. A very lethal comboWindows is like decaf - it tastes like the real thing, but it won't get you through the day.
the summary fails to mention that OSX has no autorun. There is no way it can install something behind your back like windows does.
The war with islam is a war on the beast
The war on terror is a war for peace
Why not find the names of the individual programmers who coded these rootkits, and make sure they're unable to ever get a job ever again? It was perfectly reasonable to keep Communist sympathizers out of Hollywood and government when Senator McCarthy went on his crusade -- why not keep DRM sympathizers out of the programming industry? Treat them like shit, refuse to hire them anywhere, and make them unable to ever afford food and shelter ever again without humiliating welfare subsidies.
Of course, criminals will always hire criminals; a thief will always have a chance at getting hired by the Mafia, so I don't expect this will completely work. Computer companies that have overgrown beyond their event horizon of personal responsibility such as Sony and Microsoft will always be a haven for crooks and guttersnipes. But every responsible company still around should outright refuse to hire anyone who's ever knowingly developed anything related to DRM; conduct background checks on every potential employee's employment history and slam the door in the face of any DRM sympathizer looking for a job.
When can we expect Linux support? I'd like to think that Linux is big enough now to demand proper support from Sony, just like Windows and OSX.
Ummm..."Ha ha, it doesn't affect us!" At least, none of us who don't type in the administrator password without understanding why we're doing it.
Ha ha, only serious. Seriously, this isn't an "any computer" issue. This is an issue with the only "modern" OS that have been specifically engineered to run arbitrary binaries with privileges without challenging the user. It's isn't a matter of Mac OS X or Linux (or VMS or Solaris or SunOS or VM/CMS) being better, it's a matter of Windows being worse .
This isn't even a matter of Windows' original design, as Dave Cutler's original security model was solid and included a good separation of privileges away from the desktop user, drawing on the last half a century of computing experience. This is a matter of Microsoft Management specifically and intentionally deciding to screw you. They will say it was necessary to make a desktop OS usable by novices - Mac OS X does give the lie to such horseshit (and that is the only place Mac OS X specifically figures in this topic).
Yes, Sony deserves a lot of the blame. But Microsoft deserves just as much. You can start to "fight this stupidity" by not using Windows.
"It is our blasphemy which has made us great, and will sustain us, and which the gods secretly admire in us." - Zelazny
Because of OS X default security, even when running as the administrator, you still need to click to run the program, then type in your password. Deceptive, but not really secretive or automatic, thanks to the default Mac security.
;)
In Windows, you just insert the CD. Maybe into someone else's system when their back is turned. Windows OS trusts external content much more than the user sitting at the desk. "Do me", it says.
Unfortunately, people are still stupid enough to follow these ludicrous steps. Remember the teddy bear "virus" in Windows? Consisted only of an email, the instructions to delete a standard Windows exe file, and a directive to resend the email to all of your friends.
PS. Join us... you know you want to.
Everyone is entitled to his own opinions, but not his own facts.
I just renewed my living-room home-entertainment system for almost 5000 euros. The two finalists were a all Sony set vs. Panasonic + Harman Kardon + Infinity. Guess which finalist got my money after reading up on the Sony DRM scheme... Yep, I'm a happy Panasonic+HK+Infinty owner. Added a One-for-All remote and the functionality is pretty much the same as using a complete set from the same vendor.
And this was definitely the last time I even consider Sony. Forget the new Playstation, if I have to choose from the two bad options M$ vs. Sony my money goes to M$ in this case.
As big a fan as I am of the Van Zant brothers, I just can't think of buying the album after all this. Luckily it was available without DRM somewhere else. It's a shame for the artists though, they didn't get thei $0.50 or whatever they make per sold CD.
I know my 5000 doesn't bankrupt Sony but if more of us start voting with our wallets maybe they will realize they can't keep on shafting customers every chance they get.
It may sound paranoid, but once they start messing with the kernel, you really don't know what they're going to do...
The CB App. What's your 20?
I'd really like to get my hands on one of those now. I sort of miss slapping it upside the carriage every time you were finishing a line. And a typo at the end of a page REALLY hurt.
... grumble, grumble, grumble, mutter, mutter, Millenium... Hand... Shrimp, I tol' 'em, I tol' 'em.
Citibank (I think) has a credit card mask generator. You can generate a credit card number for use online and then you tell the credit card company the spending and number of transations limits. You get a safe, one time use credit card number.
http://brandonbloom.name
Well.. Let see... I will NOT be buying the following:
1. Sony music CD's
2. Sony HD TV
3. Sony Playstation 3 and games
4. Sony Bluray DVD player
5. Sony Ericson phones
6. Sony VAIO laptop
7. Sony DVD burner
8. Sony digital camera
9. Sony video recorder
The only way Sony will regain my trust is if they were to:
1. publically admit that what they did was wrong
2. put a link on sony.com to a page explaining what exactly happened and provide software to uninstall the rootkit
3. recall all CD's on the shelf containing rootkit DRM
4. offer replacement CD's to all customers
Trey Anastasio, Shine (Columbia)
Celine Dion, On ne Change Pas (Epic)
Neil Diamond, 12 Songs (Columbia)
Our Lady Peace, Healthy in Paranoid Times (Columbia)
Chris Botti, To Love Again (Columbia)
Van Zant, Get Right with the Man (Columbia)
Switchfoot, Nothing is Sound (Columbia)
The Coral, The Invisible Invasion (Columbia)
Acceptance, Phantoms (Columbia)
Susie Suh, Susie Suh (Epic)
Amerie, Touch (Columbia)
Life of Agony, Broken Valley (Epic)
Horace Silver Quintet, Silver's Blue (Epic Legacy)
Gerry Mulligan, Jeru (Columbia Legacy)
Dexter Gordon, Manhattan Symphonie (Columbia Legacy)
The Bad Plus, Suspicious Activity (Columbia)
The Dead 60s, The Dead 60s (Epic)
Dion, The Essential Dion (Columbia Legacy)
Natasha Bedingfield, Unwritten (Epic)
Ricky Martin, Life (Columbia)
from the eff
Perhaps this DRM is your punishment for listening to Ricky Martin and Celine Dion?