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Where are the Prosecutors?

Posted by Cliff on from the companies-violating-your-property dept.

a_greer2005 wonders: "In the past 5 years, we have seen plenty of virus writers in the United States brought to justice both criminally and when possible financially. In the past couple of weeks it has been discovered that Sony has shipped a rootkit, which is worse than the common spyware or virus, so I ask you, where are the law suits? Is anyone planning criminal/civil action at all? Does Sony frighten the entire legal industry? If nothing is done about this, will we have ANY right to tell a company 'NO' in the future when it comes to DRM worms -- Is this but a sample of things to come?" Update: 11/12 10:20 PM EDT by C :Whoops! Missed the fact that we've already reported on the fact that California has already started a class action suit against Sony (thanks to the posters that caught this). New York may soon follow. However that is only 2 states out of 50. Is there a possibility of more to follow?

3 of 35 comments (clear)

  1. They've got protection... by ForumTroll · · Score: 3, Insightful

    It's easy to take legal action and be successful against a single person, especially one who often is very young and simply cannot afford to hire good legal counsel. On the other hand, it's not so simple to take legal action and be successful against a huge corporation with ties high up in the government and loads of money to protect themselves. Legal action is being pursued in several states and by several different parties, but due to the fact that this is a major corporation with very important friends in high places they will receive nothing more than a slap on the wrist.

    --
    "A Lisp programmer knows the value of everything, but the cost of nothing." - Alan Perlis
  2. Re:Not a rootkit by Thing+1 · · Score: 3, Insightful
    Doesn't matter whether Sony uses their hidden software to compromise a system. They installed the hidden software which allowed someone to compromise. That hidden software is commonly known as a "rootkit".

    A "virus" or "trojan" or "worm" is the software that performs the compromise. A "rootkit" allows the V/T/W writer to produce their creation with less effort.

    Sony is directly responsible for reducing system security on PCs that have been infected with their rootkits. That is actionable, but likely nobody will go to jail.

    --
    I feel fantastic, and I'm still alive.
  3. Re:SONY rootkit violates LPGL by miu · · Score: 3, Insightful
    it's pretty hard to allege because you WILLINGLY run the CD

    Just like you willingly ran an executable containing a virus? I don't buy it. Basically that argument comes down to a rootkit being okay for Sony because they are the good guys and not okay for anyone else because they are criminals/terrorists/anarchists.

    --

    [Set Cain on fire and steal his lute.]