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Sony Rootkit may Lead to Regulation
An anonymous reader writes "Computerworld has a story about DHS officials meeting with Sony to read them the riot act, following the rootkit fiasco. From the story: 'A U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) official warned today that if software distributors continue to sell products with dangerous rootkit software, as Sony BMG Music Entertainment recently did, legislation or regulation could follow.'"
So they have not been punished for their crime,
They are not even being told they will get punished if they do it again,
It seems to say, if you do it again, only then will make it illegal so you can't do it a third time.
(Gee, I'll have to try that one next time I get busted by the cops - its only my first offence, officer, you shouldn't lock me up until I've done it at least 3 times)
Ohh, you mean legalization and decriminalization of these behaviors, so that this does not become an issue again. Anything less than a total ban, backed up by some serious time in a federal pound you in the ass facility, means that someone has been bought out.
I was merely trying to point out how "fucked up" the system is - we live in a world that allowed the two events described above to have the outcomes they did...
smash.
I run: Windows, OS X, Linux, FreeBSD. Just because you have a hammer, doesn't mean everything is a nail.
But the 15 year old is a terrorist for attacking national infrastructure. The company is just trying to protect it's godgiven right for profits.
Why merely threaten legislation if it continues to happen? Laws against "products with dangerous rootkit software" wouldn't seem to harm anyone. Enact the legislation now.
From TFA:
I guess that depends on what you mean by malicious. As far as I'm concerned, anyone who distributes trojans is either malicious, or mentally insane — on the same level as the man who thinks he's a poached egg.
You mean this was legal?
Red Leader Standing By!
Last time I checked, the DHS doesn't work for the Legislature. Their job begins and ends with enforcing the existing laws.
If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
A 17 year old writing a stupid trojan that does little but spread receives a 2 year sentence in jail and is only safe from compensation since companies didn't want to have the public know their systems are insecure.
... yeahsure) receives... a recommendation not to do anything like this again or else we might have to think about creating laws banning this behaviour (hey, those laws exist, enact them!).
Read: Juvenile dick-waving without commercial interest -> 2 years prison.
A large corporation spreading a rootkit with their product to their paying customer with the intent to cripple their customer's software performance (not being able to use it as intended, by manufacturer or user) that also has the capability of spying on their behaviour (allegedly they didn't use that function, but
Read: Commercial malvolent infiltration of customer's computers -> Nada.
The world sure is changing. When I was still in school, adding "commercial" to a crime sure upped your sentence by some magnitude. Nowadays it seems to be your "get out of jail" card if you commit a crime with financial interest.
Al Capone simply died too early. He'd love these times.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
No. The principle of capitalism ist: Privatize profits, communalize costs. Sony BMG was just trying to profit privately from non copyable media while externalizing the costs to thousands of PC owners.
I'm sure good things will come of this. :/
No, that just makes it good business, according to the reprehensible predatory practices that are currently deemed as acceptable business behavior. Corporate execs and shareholders alike love nothing better than to externalize expenses, and they really don't give a damn who has to bear that burden, as long as it's not them.
Corporation: An organization created in order to generate individual profit without individual responsibility.
That is why no on is in jail, it goes against the very idea of corporations.
"If you can't live without me, why aren't you already dead?"
I've often wondered why things like this rootkit exist in the first place. Does Sony only employ those who are morally bankrupt? Surely someone at some point in Sony would have said "Hey, this is kinda evil".
I agree it stinks, but I'm not exactly sure how we stop it short of a constitutional amendment, and if that amendment is too broadly worded, the cure could be worse than the disease.
You can only drink 30 or 40 glasses of beer a day, no matter how rich you are.
-- Colonel Adolphus Busch
Why is DHS the one that is playing enforcer here? How does policing corporations in private fit into their responsibilities of providing homeland security?
With computer crimes there's some kind of investigation from local and federal law enforcement (FBI maybe?) and maybe a public hearing or two to give the appearance to voters that something is going to be done.
Please point out the obvious here because I'm missing it.
http://www.maxineudall.com/2010/02/should-economists-be-sued-for-malpractice.html
It really bugs me that DHS and generally everyone else are looking at this issue as if the security vulnerabilities in the Sony rootkit are the main issue. And perhaps it is to them, but not to me. The real issue is that Sony is installing software on computers without the owner's permission, and it's software that intentionally hobbles hardware/software you paid for. That's like being upset, not because a thief stole your TV, but because he left the back door unlocked when he left.