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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."

2 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.

  2. 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.