Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Sony BMG Settles Over CD DRM

Posted by samzenpus on from the sorry-about-that dept.

aurispector writes "Sony BMG Music Entertainment will pay $1.5 million and kick in thousands more in customer refunds to settle lawsuits brought by California and Texas over music CDs that installed a hidden anti-piracy program on consumers' computers. The settlements, announced Tuesday, cover lawsuits over CDs loaded with one of two types of copy-protection software — known as MediaMax or XCP. Although it's great to see this as a victory for consumers, I can't help but wonder about the next wave of DRM schemes."

5 of 225 comments (clear)

  1. SparkArt? by hotrodman · · Score: 3, Interesting

    After having dealt with some of these people, I'd say the next wave is coming from a little company called SparkArt. They also get into 'Viral Marketing'. SA deals with Sony as well, so this little company would be one to keep an eye on in the future......

  2. Re:The Best Democracy Money Can Buy by cashman73 · · Score: 5, Interesting
    Consumers won't get, "thousands more." From the article, "In addition, Sony BMG agreed to reimburse consumers whose computers were damaged while trying to uninstall the XCP software. Customers in both states can file a claim with Sony BMG to receive refunds of up to $175."

    "Customers have 180 days to file claims, which must include a description of how their computer was harmed and documentation of repair expenses."

    Granted, $175 is still a decent amount of money. So if you're computer was reasonably fscked, it would probably be a good idea to go through the paperwork. Unfortunately, Sony is probably betting that most people will probably decide it's not worth the hassle. Then, there's the fact that about half of the paperwork customers file will end up going to some overworked, incompetent paper-pusher office slave who will either take way too long to approve the request, or reject it for some bullsh*t reason,...

  3. Re:The Best Democracy Money Can Buy by Sylver+Dragon · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I'm wondering how vigorously the claims are checked. If it's mostly just a matter of filling in the applicable paperwork and waiting for it, I can see people just deciding to get free money and filing a claim, regardless of actual damage. Heck, it might be fun to figure out how/where to get the form, what needs to appear on it and get as many people as possible to send one in. Sort of 'slashdot' the system.

    --
    Necessity is the mother of invention.
    Laziness is the father.
  4. Slashdot editors brainwashed or what? by raap · · Score: 5, Interesting

    This story report is horrible! First it's the Sony rootkit. Name it as such. Not some "DRM" bullshit. Second: "victory for consumers" ? This is wrong on so many levels, I don't believe it. We are customers, not consumers. And no, it's not a victory, not at all. Sony did commit thousands of computer crimes for purely financial interests and got a slap on the wrist. Kevin Mitnick would be in Jail for 3000 years for this. And if my information is correct, the settlement states explicitly, that Sony does not recognize any guilt. Sorry for this rant. But how can such a misleading article be on the front page?

  5. sony will likely pay nothing by Trailer+Trash · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I would pretty much bet that they'll charge this whole thing against the cd sales of the artists that had this crap on their cds, effectively costing sony nothing. Remember that this is a company that still makes artists pay for "breakage" on iTunes sales.

    --
    Do you have ESP?