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Rick Rubin Discloses Sony Rootkit Called Home

Posted by kdawson on from the curiouser-and-curiouser dept.

caffeinemessiah writes "Rick Rubin, the legendary music producer, recently signed on as co-head of Columbia Records, which is owned by Sony BMG. In a recent New York Times interview (on pg. 4 of the online version), he discloses, possibly accidentally: 'It was the highest debut of Neil [Diamond]'s career, off to a great start. But Columbia — it was some kind of corporate thing — had put spyware on the CD. That kept people from copying it, but it also somehow recorded information about whoever bought the record...' Seems like the rootkit might have been a little more than your vanilla invade-your-rights-DRM scheme."

5 of 249 comments (clear)

  1. didn't we know this? by l2718 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The analysis of the trojan already showed that it phoned home. Of course the point of this was to gather data.

    1. Re:didn't we know this? by mpe · · Score: 4, Insightful

      And again, I must ask... why wasn't anyone ARRESTED for this? If an individual had created and distributed such a program, he would be imprisoned for years and the 6 o'clock news would run a half a dozen segments along the lines of "Special Report : OMG TEH HACKERS CAN STEAL YOUR HARD DRIVE!". Why doesn't anyone care when a corporation does it?

      There is a distinct lack of prisons for "corporate people". Indeed the whole "corporations are people" meme just falls apart when it comes to criminal (as opposed to civil) law.
      It also dosn't help when the concept of "limited liability", something which was only intended to be relevent to a bankrupt company, is instead treated as a shield for the activities of what amount to criminal gangs.

  2. Re:oooh, data miner. by TheRealMindChild · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Because if Joe Hacker did this, and it comes back to Joe Hacker, Joe Hacker is arrested. Now when they go to Sony, they'll be met with a wall of lawyers. When fingers start being pointed, you'll get "I wasn't the person who authorized/conceived said issue. And no, we can't tell you who did. Talk to our lawyers".

    --

    "When life gives you lemons, don't make lemonade. Make life take the lemons back!" -- Cave Johnson
  3. Re:A brontosaurus standing on its head. by arkham6 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Bad will? Bad will? What bad will. You walk into any music store and ask a random person buying CD's if they like or dislike the RIAA, they are going to look at you blankly.

    Ask them what they think about the lawsuits being filed daily by the RIAA, and they will shrug and say "Yeah? So, i'm not getting sued, i don't care."

    Ask them if they are upset that there is a rootkit in that CD they are holding, the would probably not understand the ramifications.

    Face it, the American people care for their rights, up into the moment choosing between those rights and getting the newest, shiney toy.

  4. Re:Slashdot proves you're wrong. by kripkenstein · · Score: 4, Insightful

    BTW, i just read an article about Rubin (was it linked here yesterday?) that said he had never heard of Simon Cowell from American Idol up till last year or whatever. Now...not saying that Simon Cowell is anything great, but for a top record producer to have never heard of someone that familiar to everyone else...that's just weird.

    Rick Rubin not hearing about Simon Cowell is about the same as the chef de cuisine at a French restaurant not knowing what McDonald's is.