Music Industry Backlash Against Sony Rootkit

Foobar of Borg writes "The Associated Press describes how backlash from Sony's Rootkit CDs is causing problems for the music industry. The problem is two-fold: (1) the inherent technological problem of trying to prevent anyone from copying anything and (2) letting lawyers make technical decisions when (from the article) 'Lawyers don't have any better understanding of technology than a cow does algebra.'" More from the article: "'I think they've set back audio CD protection by years,' said Richard M. Smith, an Internet privacy and security consultant. 'Nobody will want to pull a Sony now.' Phil Leigh, analyst for Inside Digital Media, said the debacle shows just how reluctant the labels are to change their business model to reflect the distribution powers -- good and bad -- of the Internet. He believes that rather than adopting technological methods to try to stop unauthorized copying of music, record companies need to do more to remove the incentive for piracy."

Comments

For me this is a no-brainer

[cronius]

"He believes that rather than adopting technological methods to try to stop unauthorized copying of music, record companies need to do more to remove the incentive for piracy."

No shit Sherlock.

Van Zant is taking heat

[keraneuology]

I called up the company that is acting as managers for the group Van Zant to express my displeasure. The receptionist said that they have been getting "a lot" of calls over the issue and she had several "I have been instructed to say" comments. "We regret this, we regret that, we have complained, this isn't our fault" type of comments. And no, this isn't the fault of Van Zant (though they could have demanded that no such copy protection be included on any of their CDs during contract negotiations, but to my knowledge nobody has ever done that, nor would they ever do something like that).

However, when I asked if Van Zant would even consider moving to somebody other than Sony when the current contract ended, there was no comment. Meaning no, they won't. And here, people, is the proof. And the pudding. In a nice silver serving dish. Van Zant is making lots and lots of money from Sony - this is a good thing. I believe people should be allowed to try and make as much money as they can or want. But Van Zant is making money at the expense of their fans. If they respected their fans, they would make it clear and public that as soon as they can they would leave Sony. But they are being paid too much to do so. I would hope that the people who comprise the free market would vote with their feet, but we all know that isn't going to happen. Sony is going to continue to make billions of dollars selling CDs to people. Van Zant is going to continue to receive their millions from Sony. The world continues spinning.