Sony Rootkit Settlement Gets Judge's Approval

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. "

Comments

Wow! A replacement CD!

[Whiney Mac Fanboy]

Imagine if after reading about the original rootkit & associated vulnerabilities, you check your DNS records & see that indeed, one or more PCs you're responsible for are infected. You spend hundreds of hours following it up, removing the PCs from the network, checking to see there were no secondary malware infections, etc, etc, etc.

At the end of all your time, you still can't claim the replacement CD + download + patch, (let alone compensation for your lost time) because you didn't buy the offending CD (it was a temp receptionist).

I really want to see someone go after Sony for a real settlement. For that matter, I'd like to see a government go after Sony. Corporations have the same rights as individuals, how about we give them the same responsibilities as well. I think a four or five years of community service for the entire company (say 20 hours a week), would be about what's deserved for a widespread crack attempt like this.