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Sony Rootkit Settlement Gets Judge's Approval

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the yay-free-music dept.

Lewis Clarke wrote to mention a ZDNet story about Monday's final approval of the rootkit settlement in the case brought against Sony BMG Music. From the article: "The agreement covers anyone who bought, received or used CDs containing what was revealed to be flawed digital rights management (DRM) software after Aug. 1, 2003. Those customers can file a claim and receive certain benefits, such as a nonprotected replacement CD, free downloads of music from that CD and additional cash payments ... At least 15 different lawsuits were filed by class action lawyers against the record label, and the New York cases were eventually consolidated into one proceeding. The parties reached a preliminary settlement with Sony BMG in December, leaving it up to a judge in a U.S. District Court in New York to make it official. "

2 of 187 comments (clear)

  1. Opt-in website by TheSpoom · · Score: 4, Informative

    Here's the claim filing website for the Sony BMG settlement, since I didn't see a link to it in the article.

    The solutions given almost don't seem worth it, but I'll probably opt-in anyway just so that little bit of money gets drained from Sony so they don't do this again.

    --
    It's better to vote for what you want and not get it than to vote for what you don't want and get it.
    - E. Debs
  2. Re:Wow! A replacement CD! by tomhudson · · Score: 4, Informative

    Nothing is preventing you from filing a claim against them. From the court settlement notice:
    http://www.sonybmgcdtechsettlement.com/Notice.htm

    EXCLUDE YOURSELF: Get no XCP exchange program, cash or free music download settlement benefits. This is the only option that allows you to ever be part of any other lawsuit against the Defendants about the legal claims being resolved in this case. See Question 13 below.

    OBJECT: Write to the Court about why you don't like the settlement.

    GO TO A HEARING: Ask to speak in Court about the fairness of the settlement.

    DO NOTHING: Get no XCP exchange program, cash or free music download settlement benefits. Give up certain rights. You will retain the right to sue the Defendants for any consequential damage to your computer or network that may have resulted from interactions between XCP software or MediaMax software and other software or hardware installed on your computer or network.

    NOTE: the "Do Nothing" option is also for anyone who didn't buy the CD, whose computer was damaged because someone else loaded the CD onto their machine, etc. (for example, a temp office worker decided to listen to the CD and infected a PC). Write Sony, state your claim (number of pcs affected, time lost) and that you are not part of the class settlement and would like to know what they're offering you to avoid court action.

    Heck, up here small claims handles stuff like this up to $7,000.00 If I were affected, I'd send them a demand/notice, wait 10 working days, then pay the filing fee. If enough people did this, they'd make a SERIOUS offer, one in line with the actual damages.