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Sony BMG Settles Over CD DRM
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."
Each State gets $750,000 -- customers will share "thousands more."
Nice. Real way to protect the consumer.
Sony is Doomed.
You are in a maze of twisted little posts, all alike.
Doesn't sound like Sony got particularly chastised here. If I were Sony, or any other company interested in inflicting DRM on my customers, I'd happily pay the fees that they're talking about here. Total cost is less than $10M, which is a drop in the bucket for a large, multi-national corporation. If they succeed in inflicting their DRM, they win by taking our rights away. If they lose, then they get some R & D done about how to do better next time. If this judgement were to mean anything to the consumer, there would have to be significant punitive damages as well (I'm thinking in the neighbourhood of $100M or more).
Either way, not much to see here. Big company does nasty things with DRM, gets caught, walks away with dignity and wallet intact.
mandelbr0t
"Please describe the scientific nature of the 'whammy'" - Agent Scully
"Sony BMG also agreed not to distribute any compact discs loaded with any copy-protection software that hinders computer users from easily locating it or removing it from their computers." So that means it'll still be there, just out in the open to let consumers get at it, which will be hidden by some other measure that will continue to piss off the consumer.
Sony, with $15.7 billion quarterly revenue? Would $1m even make it into the 10-Q's footnotes?
I wish I could engage in legally questionable activity in order to get billions of dollars, then only pay a measly 1.5 million for the privilage.
Looks like about a 2 million dollar loss ($1.5m in direct damages, plus $175 per individual claim to be filed) for Sony for potentially installing this on 2 million (or more!)PCs. Is it just me, or does this almost seem like it can be worth it for Sony to keep going? This is a multinational conglomerate that was just... I want to say a slap on the wrist, but, it's not even that to them!
2^4 * 3 * 20929
Is anyone going after the antivirus/antispyware companies whose offerings gave the rootkit a pass?
My turnips listen for the soft cry of your love
Thousands of unsold copies of some long-forgotten Mariah Carey album.
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......
Everyone saw it coming, but it's still sad. If I broke into your house and got caught, I would never get away with simply having to replace the broken lock and saying I'm sorry. But when Sony violate their customers' rights as gravely as they did, they get away with paying what amounts to little more than a token fee.
Basilisk Digital
"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."
With any disrupting technology, one can use it for "safer" computing or "treacherous" computing (remember P2P?!). It almost looks like entertainment industry is waiting to embrace this (one once it matures) and use it treacherously. BTW, my research area is trusted computing and I believe this technology is the first step towards safer computing. It is so very un-scientific to blindly disregard any technology at inception. All in all, you want it or not, corporations are going to push it into your home PC very soon...
iTunes, RealPlayer and several other apps prove that it's possible to implement DRM without buggering the host OS. Sony's not in trouble for using DRM, they're int trouble for installing a rootkit.
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
So, let's see. When Sony thinks that someone has "pirated" music, they sue them for, what, $1,500 per song, yet illegally invade people's computers and privacy and get off with a hundred dollars or so per person?
Where's the justice in that?
Why did the states take the settlement? There is no way that Sony could have won this. TX and CA should have rode it out!
There is no "I disagree" mod for a reason. Flamebait, Troll, and Overrated are not substitutes.
60 million would be an insult. They spend more than that on ad campagnes. 1.5 million? That's like a paper cut. On the low side it should have been 200 million to settle. There is some serious corruption going on.
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.
I'm sure the ashtray of the Sony CFO's Mercedes 600SEL will miss that pocket change.
Sometimes it's best to just let stupid people be stupid.
they certainly could continue putting rootkits on their CDs, but they're not in the business of giving money away. These companies are big, but the different divisions (and sub-divisions) all keep records of profits and losses. This is going to show up in a big way.
I can see the meeting now:
Muckety Muck: Last quarter your unit had profits of $1.5mil. But this quarter you have a loss of $.5mil. Care to explain?
Sony Music Exec: Well we put this DRM on our CDs and got sued and settled for $2mil.
Muckety Muck: I see. Did the DRM reduce piracy? Or increase sales?
Sony Music Exec: Well... we can't tell if it reduced piracy. And, ahem, sales kinda collapsed after people found out we were getting sued for it.
Muckety Muck: That might just qualify for the dumbest business decision this year! No bonus for you and I'm taking away your parking space.
so while for Sony it's not a big deal, you can bet that the people that made the decision to rootkit their CDs are scrambling to save their careers.
It breaks my pluginses, my precious!
This story report is horrible! First it's the Sony rootkit. Name it as such. Not some "DRM" bullshit. Second: "victory for consumers" ? This is wrong on so many levels, I don't believe it. We are customers, not consumers. And no, it's not a victory, not at all. Sony did commit thousands of computer crimes for purely financial interests and got a slap on the wrist. Kevin Mitnick would be in Jail for 3000 years for this. And if my information is correct, the settlement states explicitly, that Sony does not recognize any guilt. Sorry for this rant. But how can such a misleading article be on the front page?
think real hard about this one, .. given the choice consumers will choose non-drm over drm. It's really a hard sell to consumer. I'm for the unlimited download 5$/mo.club and the artist get paid directely from that, cut out the middleman, the artist/inventor get paid more money and that can be based on a useage of IP percentage.
If I hacked into thousands of computers and installed a root kit without permission, I'm pretty sure I would be facing enough jail-time to seriously stretch my sphincter. In Texas, I bet that would probably be enough to get the chair! Someone should be going to jail for this kinda crap, and Sony should have their corporate charter dismissed and the assets seized. (corporate death sentence)
the above is my personal opinion and does not necessarily reflect that of the little voices in my head
That's what they thought they had with this. It can still be found. It's hard, but someone will see it and bring it to light. It may not be quickly, but chances are it will happen.
Sony Suit: Well guys, looks like our DRM scheme tanked. But $1.5 is nothing. Muahaha. That's lunch money for me. What new stuff do you have?
Researcher John: Well, we got this thing where we can put in subliminal messages into the music that our customers buy. Stuff like "P2P and Piracy rapes your mom!" or "Buy more sucky and/or mediocre music!" or "Mike is a fag!"
Researcher Mike: Shut up John!
Sony Suit: Oh that's good stuff! Anything else?
Researcher John: Well, Mike has another idea.
Researched Mike: (holds up cute puppy) We can threaten to kill this cute puppy if they pirate stuff!
Sony Suit: EXCELLENT! (pets cute puppy) Woo's a cute puppy-wuppy! Woo's gonna die to pwotect our intewests!! Oooohh!! Sooo cute! Yesyouare!! Yesyouare!!
Vivin Suresh Paliath
http://vivin.net
I like
so as a consumer, am I still allowed to sue Sony for "hacking my computer and breaking it."? Probably not, eh? How about I got and install rootkit on some Sony's computer?
-------------------
say what's on your mind - online confession and anon email @ my website http://www.sayitt.com/
With Microsoft, you've got to PAY THEM to install virus-prone software on your computer...
Though the payout on these lawsuits isn't high, the story represents far more of a disincentive for music vendors to pursue shady DRM-like courses than most posters seem to recognize. The dollar value is low, but it sets a precedent, cost them money in legal fees as well as lost development investment, and most importantly makes would-be corporate coalition partners skittish.
Of course, I expect like-minded corporations to fund a fairly concerted lobbying effort after this to create some stealth legistlation legalizing whatever skullduggery they please. The bill will be called the Media Freedom Act or something like that.
I am the one true god. However, as an atheist, I don't believe in myself. I guess I have a self-esteem problem.
You mean the wave after the current wave of DRM we haven't detected yet?
Google's Super Secret Search Algorithm: SELECT @search_results FROM internet WHERE @search_results = 'good'
so, 1.5 million to each customer, right? otherwise, that's bullshit.
I see Windows, I see Mac. I see Linux on the rack.
A couple law firms in each state made some money, Sony expends more effort farting than it takes to make 1.5 million, and the people fucked over directly by their CRAPWARE get a shitty pittance.
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
iirc 2 million pcs were affected, so everyone gets 75 cents?
The MAFIAA is a bunch of mindless jerks who will be the first up against the wall when the revolution comes
I mean, they did agree to pay $1.5 Milllllion dollars!
Now please excuse me, I need to count the 15 pennies that I'm now entitled to.
Fuck Sony.
First they should be criminally liable. What they did is computer-sabotage for commercial gain. Only prison-time is acceptable.
Second, they should have to pay everybody the cost of professional cleanup. I would say that is at least $150 per customer hit, probably more.
I think they got out of thi extremely cheap. Not acceptable for clearly criminal behaviour.
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
I was boycotting Sony until they released the best rear-projection TV on the market. What can I say? Should I watch substandard TV just to make a point?
Doesn't it make you feel good to know that our freedoms are protected by politicans, lawyers and journalists.
Holy crap, batman - someone completely missed the point of a boycott. Note: you boycott a company if you decide that you are not going to buy their products regardless of their intrinsic merit. So yes, you boycott a company even if they release the best rear-projection TV ever, or if it comes with the kitchen sink and does your laundry, too. Finally - can I point out that you just placed watching TV on a nice TV set above having principles and following through with them?
Wow.
Those who can, do. Those who can't, sue.
You realize that this isn't the same DRM/Rootkit that is in controversy (XCP) here, right? (That's specifically noted in the Wikipedia article you cite.)
sony pays 1.5 mill. for their stupidicy..
This from a state well known for its multi-million dollar medical malpractice suits. I guess you have to feel sorry for poor Sony, your average physician apparently is worth more than them.
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
/. writeup totally confused: Read a better writeup. California and Texas have settled - five other states still get to rake Sony across the coals.
Shh.
My bad.
Shh.
Substandard Standard
Best != Standard
Therefore not having the best does not mean having to settle for substandard.
I'm out of my mind right now, but feel free to leave a message.....
That is not flamebait. It is good security to ask before executing unknown code.
A company like Sony can find that much money under their sofa cushions.
You call this a sig?
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?
Sony needed to be smacked a lot harder than this. They probably make that much by selling a couple Britney clone CDs.
Oh You POS
Read the summary. It explicitly mentions MediaMax copy protection.
... of Sony's bullshit. Don't buy their crap to begin with. If it has the Sony name anywhere on the product then chances are you're getting less and paying more. This goes along with all of their proprietary bullshit that they try to force on consumers. They keep failing, but they keep trying. PASS.
So? People on the wrong side of copyright lawsuits, inc. the ones Sony files, are likely to pay more than a quarter of their yearly income to the RIAA.
There is a fine line between recklessness and courage... -- Paul McCartney
People should start referring to DRM this way, it's not "Rights" management. DRM = Digital Restrictions Management
And I'm sure that a copyright infringement suit would end up costing most people a lot more than 112% of their net income for a 3 month period.
But it's really much worse, because any individual who did what Sony did could be convicted under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, and sent to jail for up to a decade. Instead, Sony has to give up what, 10% of their profits over a 3 month period? Less than 3% of their yearly profit (give or take)? How is that justice?
A papercut? That is something that draws blood, causes annoyance, and some pain and discomfort. This judgement is more akin to a slight itch on your arm you scratch subconsciously...
Love many, trust a few, do harm to none.
But...that someone works for Microsoft now, remember? And if "he" does still have time to look for something like this, do you think it would ever see the public light of day? At best, a fix would go into a "security update" to protect you from undisclosed "malicious files" vaguely mentioned in a KB article. Oh, and that fix would also cripple some aspect of your OS.
So that's California and Texas. Are there any other States/countries/etc that are still bringing about charges/damages against Sony?
"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."
Here you go.
Commodore64_love: I don't comprehend people who're so frightened of death that they'll bankrupt themselves to stay alive
ese drivers and hooks are left behind when you uninstall iTunes. Having those drivers still in there makes it impossible to do a repair or in-place upgrade from the CD if Windows gets corrupt.
I've never heard that before. Is this documented anywhere?
There are shills on slashdot. Apparently, I'm one of them.
I stand corrected. My fault entirely, didn't realize there was any complaint except for the XCP.
So? People on the wrong side of copyright lawsuits, inc. the ones Sony files, are likely to pay more than a quarter of their yearly income to the RIAA.
The average individual law suit was for $2000 or so. You're telling me most people (who own computers and presumably have broadband access) make less than $2000/quarter ($8000/year)?
People seem to think that corporations are evil, faceless, and have infinite amounts of money.
When a corporation is sued for a large sum of money, people lose jobs and it's almost never the ones who deserve it.
If you were to take $200 million from Sony BMG, which has been seeing declining sales almost constant since 1998 or so, you'd be putting hundreds of people out of work.
As another poster said, the people in the company who were responsible for the rootkit have probably either been fired, disciplined, embarrassed, or penalized in some other way. At any rate, Sony wont be doing it again.
As for the consumer, getting up to $180 for a computer virus is a pretty good deal. It may not "punish" them in the way us bloodthirsty Americans would want to see, but makes up for what they did wrong. When all is said and done, this really was just an inconvenience.
Latewire
Holy Crap, Batman!
/. is not representative for the world population. 'Nuffsaid.
Somebody just missed the point that there is no point in Boycotting.
1) Does it really Boycot Sony?
At some point in time, for instance, a fair amount of all the CRT tubes used in TV's of various brands were Panasonic (Philips in the background). Boycotting Panasonic, and getting a Grundig instead didn't amount to one heap of beans: The tube was Panasonic anyhow.
So, the few people that do hold "principles" higher than "a cool flat TV" probably will never know what market companies like Sony have their grubby fingers in. Somehow, somewhere, they will receive kickback on some patent they have, no matter what you buy and from whom.
2) Critical Mass.
Let it be known that
3) Someone Else will Step In and Screw You.
Congratulations, in spite of the hurdles overcome in 1) and 2), you manage to drive the EvilDoers out of business. Does this mean that the next GreedyCorp Inc. will respect you? Of course it doesn't. My mother would say that she doesn't care if she got bitten by the dog or the wolf, if bitten she'll be anyhow.
Boycotts were a good idea back in the day when you discovered the village doctor was a pedophile and a quack. He'd get hungry and move out of town. In today's corporate environment, I very much doubt it's viable.
But it's really much worse, because any individual who did what Sony did could be convicted under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, and sent to jail for up to a decade. Instead, Sony has to give up what, 10% of their profits over a 3 month period? Less than 3% of their yearly profit (give or take)? How is that justice?
Perhaps the laws against individuals are too strict, rather than the laws against corporations being too light.
Oops, we already know that to be true.
Up to $180 per computer affected is reasonable, makes up for the damage they've done, and makes sure they'll never do it again. That IS justice.
Latewire
For installing a virus on millions of PCs, they receive a fine which amounts to roughly $1 per offense or less?
Incredible.
Enact your own vengeance by enforcing a personal boycott of Sony. Nothing they make is unique, so buy from elsewhere.
So I should know all about every company I buy from, so that I can boycot those involved in criminal acts. Impossible. I expect the courts to deal with crime and punishment.
thats a billionare donating only 1.5 million every 5 years for charity
I think you misspelled politician. Sony lobbied politicians to the tune of 1.235 million dollars last year (2005). Politicians and judges aren't going to protect you. There is no justice in a totally corrupt system like America's system of "democracy."
Your forgetting the difference between profits and income. This isn't anywhere near 1/4 of Sony's income for the year. And yes, most of those sued probably make less than $8K in profits each year (that is, the leftover after all expenses are paid). Especially considering that the US currently has a negative savings rate meaning we're (on average) spending more than we're making.
Full-Featured GPL Web Hosting Control Panel
Has there ever been a class action lawsuit where the company didn't get off easy, the consumers got anything more than a token kickback and the lawyers didn't get rich?
I suppose this result is marginally better than most because in a large number of the class action lawsuits the individuals only get coupons or something lame.
However, $1.5 million is nothing for a company as large as Sony. According to the article each state involved gets $750,000. However, the article also says that in California 450,000 of these disks were sold. So Sony is giving back less than $2 per disk -- they made more than that on each disk! So they still made money on this deal.
http://www.popularculturegaming.com -- my blog about the culture of videogame players
"1) Does it really Boycot Sony? At some point in time, for instance, a fair amount of all the CRT tubes used in TV's of various brands were Panasonic (Philips in the background). Boycotting Panasonic, and getting a Grundig instead didn't amount to one heap of beans: The tube was Panasonic anyhow."
Possibly true, but taking the brand name $$ boost from one company and giving it to another is not insignificant. It certainly amounts to a heap of beans, maybe even a few hundred dollars per purchase. And if they don't receive a patent kickback, it results in a loss of the price of the unit AND the influx of the same amount of cash to their competitor.
"2) Critical Mass. Let it be known that /. is not representative for the world population. 'Nuffsaid."
No, but I strongly believe /. represents the IT or just plain geek community strongly. And I DO think that, over time, opinions of this community influence society as a whole. If nothing else, maybe IT directors at this firm or that will buy a panasonic projector rather than a sony one. A boycott doesn't have to be instantaneous to be effective.
"3) Someone Else will Step In and Screw You. Congratulations, in spite of the hurdles overcome in 1) and 2), you manage to drive the EvilDoers out of business. Does this mean that the next GreedyCorp Inc. will respect you? Of course it doesn't. My mother would say that she doesn't care if she got bitten by the dog or the wolf, if bitten she'll be anyhow."
In that case, rinse and repeat. Lets let all the criminals in prison go free, because if they're locked up, other criminals will take their place. It's not like we can get all the rapists off the street, so why bother?
I'd like to say your apathy is astounding, but... rather, it is typical.
"So I should know all about every company I buy from, so that I can boycot those involved in criminal acts. Impossible. I expect the courts to deal with crime and punishment."
No, but if you happen to know the company is comprised of scum, maybe you should go ahead and choose to buy from someone else. No need to research every company you buy from, just boycott the ones you come to understand do evil things.
1.5 Million? What? That doesn't do anything ... ANYTHING at all as far as making up for what they did. Sony should be paying out a hundred million or more to each suing state and some execs should go to prison. This will only promote further, even more horrible acts of computer crimes by large companies.
How exactly is a fine that is likely to total less than $2million after all is said and done a deterrant to a company that is worth 43 Billion dollars? To put it into context this would be like a normal person being fined somewhere between $2 and $6. It's not even a cost of doing business, it's loose change, and a tax deduction at that.
Funny how for most people fines for illegal activities come in the form of a large percentage of the person's net value, but when you start talking about corporations less than 1/10 of 1% of book value is seen as a heafty fine.
Pleaaaassee...
What can I say? Should I watch substandard TV just to make a point?
Uhhh.... YES. That's the point of a boycott, as soon as you actually buy something from them you've crossed the picket line. Additionally you need to TELL them you are boycotting them and why, if you just casually never buy a product from Sony it doesn't tell them you disagree with their policies/practices/etc it just tells them you're not interested in their products for some unknown reason.
Also, there's a big difference between "best" and "substandard", in fact it's in the words themselves. By definition, the best product is not the standard for that field, the standard would be something more like the mean or median product. There are plenty of other TV producers that make very high quality TVs of all kinds, and considering the transient nature of the title of 'best' in such a rapidly changing market, your lapse in your boycott is essentially for a title that will likely be irrelevent in 6 months if all you care about is what's the 'best'. But by all means, keep pretending you're actually making a statement until the next shiny thing comes along.
-- I'm not a pessimist, I'm a realist. It's not my fault that life sucks so much. --
So if I infect willingly and purposefully computers and gather information about my customers, install backdoors so I can come back (should the need arise) and so on, I'm gonna have to pay 1.5m bucks and that's it? The data alone is worth a magnitude more!
I'm surely working for the wrong side of the biz... eh? What do you mean, officer, jail time?
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Here's the thing. Everyone is saying that they need to go to jail.
But this was a civil trial. They broke the law, yes, but it was civil law that they broke. It was a class action suit for financial damages.
The reason they're not facing jail time is because no one went to the local constabulary and said: "I would like to press charges - my computer was hacked, this is how they did it, this is where they admitted to it."
Then you might see a criminal trial.
I used to work for NetQoS. I no longer do, but want to keep the excellent karma attached to this account.
It's not apathy. For the record, it's called pragmatism.
/. represents the IT or just plain geek community strongly.
/. is an American-centred fringe site of geekdom. Most people in the "business" are not geeks. They are professionals to do a particular job, and when they go home they might enjoy their gadgets, but it's not said they are linked to this fringe movement.
/. on the fingers of one hand. Currently, I live in the Middle East. Let me tell you, most people here are the same as the ones in North-western Europe. They don't read /.
/. will sway these crowds into the loving arms of Philips, Apple, HP, IBM, MicroSoft, Samsung, Canon or Nintendo? I fear not.
Anyhoo... You wrote:
> No, but I strongly believe
To be honest, I work for one big, fat, blue IT and Hi-tech vendor. Known for Printers, a flavour of Unix, and an anonymous wooden shed in Palo Alto. I've done support, consulting, and technical Pre-Sales work.
Given all of that experience, in a number of countries in Europe and in the EMEA geography as a whole, I can tell you that you're wrong.
Furthermore, I can tell you that I can count the people I know in high-tech who read
I'd argue that most people that purchase things from particularly Sony are not geeks per se. They are strong in very decent, easily operated and durable consumer electronics. Little bit more expensive than others sometimes, but according to many, well worth the extra buck. Do you think
$200M would be over 112% of Sony BMG's 4th quarter 2005 profits.
And? If the company is allowed to profit by damaging other people's computers, then it will continue to do so. By removing any profit from this particular misadventure, it will certainly cause them to think twice before trying it again, knowing that it would lose money.
Ideally, someone would sit down with a calculator and tally up all of the revenue from sales of these CDs, and force Sony to return that money. That would guarantee that the enterprise was a money-loser while still ensuring that damages are proportionate to the damage done.
If I have been able to see further than others, it is because I bought a pair of binoculars.
I think you should just go back to your classroom where you can join the other kids in your class in playing at raging against the system, it just looks stupid here. Oh, and hold the dictionary the right way up so at least it looks like you know how to read it.
Doesn't it make you feel good to know that our freedoms are protected by politicans, lawyers and journalists.
Um...the standard for making TV these days is HD at 1920x1080. I waited 10 years to buy a TV since my last one because I was waiting for a consumer TV to meet that standard at an affordable price - partly because I work in the film industry and consider NTSC to be too poor an approximation to film to make it pleasurable to watch. So please spare me all the lectures on consumerism, the next shiny thing and the meaning of "standard". It's amazing how much crap the average /. reader extrapolates from a small comment. And it's amazing how some people identify owning a TV with watching pabulum (though that isn't necessarily directed at you).
Doesn't it make you feel good to know that our freedoms are protected by politicans, lawyers and journalists.
It leaves the upper and lower filter drivers on the CD-ROM in place and causes this http://support.microsoft.com/kb/311755/en-us. Early versions of Roxio/EX CD Creator did this as well, which blue screen quite a number of NT4 machines when you tried installed SP4.
if you have feedback for the Texas AG, he can be emailed at greg.abbott@oag.state.tx.us
I don't think the punishment was harsh enough, but you have to wonder why there were only 2 states with the balls to punish these guys.
I don't know, maybe not if people who are informed continue to be "pragmatic."
People who dislike Sony for their business practices are not limited solely to slashdot. For a fact, I know that I have personally not given sony $1500 of my money (rather to Kodak and MS), and I have roughly 20 friends and colleagues who know about the whole rootkit mess who didn't before. I didn't ask them to boycott sony, but (especially) the ones who had bought from the label were peeved to say the least.
I didn't say slashdot is comprised of the majority of geeks, I said it represented them. I didn't even READ slashdot when I found out about this mess. The majority of technical minded people I know don't read slashdot either. But they still aren't thrilled to find out about clandestine viruses on their computer which will destroy the OS install before being removed.
So please spare me all the lectures on consumerism, the next shiny thing and the meaning of "standard". It's amazing how much crap the average /. reader extrapolates from a small comment.
Well let's see, here's your original comment: I was boycotting Sony until they released the best rear-projection TV on the market. What can I say? Should I watch substandard TV just to make a point?
You claim to have been boycotting Sony, presumably from the article this thread is attached to your boycott was because you disagreed with some or all of Sony's recent malevolent behavior, probably regarding rootkits. And yet as soon as they make something you want, you drop your boycott. Hint: that's not a boycott, or at least, not one worth a damn. So in that regard why should you be spared a lecture in consumerism, specifically what it means to boycott something since you don't seem to be practicing what you claim.
As to the meaning of standard, again you're claiming that anything less that the top of the line model is sub-standard, which is a load of crap. "Standard: an average or normal requirement, quality, quantity, level, grade, etc." That's a widely accepted definition of standard, which would not encompass the best of the state-of-the art in any field.
Now for affordable 1080p TVs here are some choices from a 10 second froogle search. On the first page alone there are 6 different manufacturers offering comparable products, so clearly Sony is not the only company providing this technology. It could certainly be argued that theirs is the best of the bunch, but you can't claim that you broke your boycott because Sony was the only possible option, merely the one you liked the most.
You're the one who claimed to be boycotting Sony when in fact it was a boycott of convenience at best, AND you asked the question "Should I watch substandard TV just to make a point?" Don't be surprised when in a public forum you're given an answer to a question you posted, rhetorical or not. Sorry you don't like the answer but own up to the fact that you were never really boycotting Sony as that would have required you to not consider their products in the decision to upgrade your TV. I have not extrapolated anything from your original comment, merely addressed it in detail.
-- I'm not a pessimist, I'm a realist. It's not my fault that life sucks so much. --
It leaves the upper and lower filter drivers on the CD-ROM in place
When you completely uninstall itunes? Anywhere this is documented?
There are shills on slashdot. Apparently, I'm one of them.
We all keep hearing these stories where some punk kid hacked a web server and the company that owned it then spend hundreds of thousands of dollars investigating and fixing their security problems. Is Sony now liable for similar damages against businesses that were infected by Sony's rootkit? A $1.5 million dollar settlement sounds like it's orders of magnitude too low considering the potential cost of cleanup.
IANAL, but I'd guess that if you don't accept the settlement from the class-action lawsuit, then you still retain the right to sue in civil court. Don't you typically have to sign an agreement waiving your right to sue for damages when you accept settlements like this?
So does this give me any kind of legal precedence against the Macrovision Corporation for installing their unsolicited SafeDisc copy protection driver to my PC? It is suggested there may be a local local privilege-escalation vulnerability similar to the kind that Microsoft has patched in their own services: http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/17070/info/
c es\Secdrv
O yes, if you've Installed any games or programs using SafeDisc *and there are lots of them* it is there.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Servi
I wouldn't be at all surprised if Sony's own SecuROM protection has something similar.
Doesn't it make you feel good to know that our freedoms are protected by politicans, lawyers and journalists.