Sony Pulls Controversial Anti-Piracy Software

An anonymous reader writes "Bowing to public outrage, Sony BMG has temporarily halted the use of its controversial anti-piracy software in all of its music CDs, the company said in a statement today. The move comes just a day after a top Bush administration official chided Sony and the entertainment industry for going too far: according to this story over at Washingtonpost.com, Stewart Baker, the Department of Homeland Security's policy czar warned would-be DRM makers: 'It's very important to remember that it's your intellectual property -- it's not your computer. And in the pursuit of protection of intellectual property, it's important not to defeat or undermine the security measures that people need to adopt in these days.' The Post has the full text and video of his commentary." We've reported on this story previously.

Comments

Still no word on Sony's Mac DRM

[davidwr]

Macintouch reports that Sony is also putting Macintosh DRM on some of its disks. No word if these kernel extensions - PhoenixNub1.kext and PhoenixNub12.kext - are a rootkit or not, and no word if Sony is suspending their use or not.

According to the Macintouch article, the Mac DRM is on Imogen Heap's Speak for Yourself, an RCA CD distributed by Sony/BMG.

I suspect that CD-makers won't be able to keep a stunt like this secret for 8 months next time, because their customers will be watching for such shenannigans.

Now we wait for Sony to issue a recall.

"All your replacement CDs are belong to us" - Sony's customers.

No

[Armour Hotdog]

Check out their full statement (from a Security Focus article):

We are aware that a computer virus is circulating that may affect computers with XCP content protection software. The XCP software is included on a limited number of SONY BMG content protected titles. This potential problem has no effect on the use of these discs in conventional, non-computer-based, CD and DVD players.

In response to these events, SONY BMG has swiftly provided a patch to all major anti-virus companies and to the general public that guards against precisely the type of virus now said to exist. The patch fixes the possible software problem, and still allows CDs to be played on personal computers. It can be downloaded at http://cp.sonybmg.com/xcp/. Starting today, we will also be adding this link to the SONY BMG label and corporate sites. We deeply regret any possible inconvenience this may cause.

We stand by content protection technology as an important tool to protect our intellectual property rights and those of our artists. Nonetheless, as a precautionary measure, SONY BMG is temporarily suspending the manufacture of CDs containing XCP technology. We also intend to re-examine all aspects of our content protection initiative to be sure that it continues to meet our goals of security and ease of consumer use. More information about our content protection initiative can also be found at: http://cp.sonybmg.com/xcp.

They're spinning this with all their might. Remember that the patch they so proudly trumpet (look how serious we are about protecting our customers!) doesn't remove the rootkit - it merely disables the cloaking feature. Also note that while they say they are suspending manufacture of these CDs, there is no mention of any effort to remove already manufactured copies from store shelves or the distribution network. Considering that CDs are stamped in large production runs and then kept in inventory, they really haven't committed to anything except to "re-examine all aspects of our content protection initiative to be sure that it continues to meet our goals of security and ease of consumer use." (and note how their goals do not include consumer privacy or control over their own electronic devices).

No, I don't think we forgive them for this for a long time yet.

Re:They'll still be liable though

[Jaseoldboss]

To quote from the website of the British Phonographic Industry

The unauthorised distribution of music over the internet is against the law. It infringes the legal rights of artists and record companies. And it's bad for music.

How hollow those words ring now, let me paraphrase in light of what Sony is accused of.

The unauthorised tampering with users computers is against the law. It infringes the legal rights of customers. And it's bad for music.

If there is one thing I'm sick of it's being preached to in this manner by corrupt, self serving sleazy corporate fat cats.