Revisiting the Infamous Sony BMG Rootkit Scandal 10 Years Later (networkworld.com)

Rocking With My Sony by Anonymous Coward · 2015-10-28 10:54 · Score: 1, Funny

I'm currently rocking out with my Sony Minidisc Walkman.

Re:Rocking With My Sony by the+biologist · 2015-10-28 18:17 · Score: 1

Likewise. I once had a Sony rep try to get me to buy something at an office store. He couldn't fathom why I would boycott them and I couldn't fathom how to explain why. I think I shrugged and said something about bad behavior by the Sony corporation. He asked if there was anything he could do to make me reconsider. I simply said, "No".
Re:Rocking With My Sony by donaldm · 2015-10-28 19:24 · Score: 2

Likewise. I once had a Sony rep try to get me to buy something at an office store. He couldn't fathom why I would boycott them and I couldn't fathom how to explain why. I think I shrugged and said something about bad behavior by the Sony corporation. He asked if there was anything he could do to make me reconsider. I simply said, "No".
With that attitude it's would be rather hypocritical to purchase products from any manufacturer. I guess you wont's be purchasing any Microsoft, Nintendo or Volkswagen products any time soon.

--
There ain't no such thing as proprietary standards only proprietary formats. Standards are by definition open.
Re:Rocking With My Sony by Opportunist · 2015-10-28 19:27 · Score: 3, Insightful

Actually, yes, there could have been something (and actually, there still is) that Sony could do to make me a customer again. Their products are not bad from a technical point of view. They last. They are well engineered. They still are most of what made me (and I dare say us) customers two decades ago.
There is a simple thing that would have to change to make me a customer again: Treat me like a customer, not like a credit card. Treat me like a partner, not an enemy. The main problem I have with Sony today is that I feel belittled and ridiculed, if not outright offended, by the way they treat me. With vendor lock-in and the deliberate removal of functionality for no other reason than trying to force me to buy again.
It does not work that way.
There is a very simple way to make me buy something from a brand again: Give me what I want. If I know I get what I want from Sony, you need not force me to buy your stuff next time I am in the market for something you make. I'll gladly and willingly actually seek out this brand that I was satisfied with last time.
Just like it was 2-3 decades ago. People are lazy. They don't shop around if they are happy with what they get from a brand. They don't like to experiment, especially when it comes to things that are a considerable investment. Just look at cars. This only changes after bad experiences.

--
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Re: Rocking With My Sony by Spamalope · 2015-10-28 21:43 · Score: 4, Informative

Yes, right... Like you made any difference. When you boycott a giant like Sony, you're just one of an incredibly small number who will make no impact whatsoever.
Perhaps you've missed Sony's financial situation. Pre-rootkit I had a Sony TV; camcorder; reciever; digital camera; high end artisan monitor (21 inch - used at 2048x1536 when LCDs were 1024x768); SVHS; 100 disc CD changer... I was the decision maker for purchasing computer equipment at work, and had been buying Sony products in the mix. Since that time? My career has taken off allowing for much greater toy spending. $10k+ in photo gear, but no Sony. There are no Sony TV/entertainment products in the new house, another $10k+ loss for Sony; 65 computer systems at work, with no Sony systems or peripherals. I'm asked for recommendations all the time, and never suggest Sony. Sony's rootkit cost them a minimum of $50k in direct sales, plus lost referrals. I had preferentially bought Sony before then.

There are so many folks doing the same that it has added up, and Sony's bottom line has suffered.
Re:Rocking With My Sony by Stuarticus · 2015-10-28 23:28 · Score: 2

Hypocrite: noun. Someone who stands by their beliefs.

Donald where's your dictionary?

--
If you think someone isn't free to have a different definition of "freedom" you may be a tyrant.
Re:Rocking With My Sony by JazzLad · 2015-10-29 02:07 · Score: 1

Whooosh ;)

--
"If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear." - Every fascist, ever
Re: Rocking With My Sony by Gr8Apes · 2015-10-29 03:12 · Score: 1

I'll add to that - I negatively speak about Sony all the time. I merely mention the CD root kit as the start of a long list of bad behavior that caused me to boycott all Sony products. What's funny is that over time, the reaction I get now is "oh yeah, that's right" instead of "wow, you really believe that?".
Sony is a company full of narcissists who thought they were always right and could do no wrong and thought of their customers as chattel. They still are, and now Sony the company is imitating the Titanic. The only question is "will Sony sink?" I can't think of a more deserving major company.

--
The cesspool just got a check and balance.
Re:Rocking With My Sony by Gr8Apes · 2015-10-29 03:16 · Score: 1

While Microsoft is definitely a candidate for anti-customer activities, even they don't come close to Sony (FYI - I also avoid MS products, but more for my sanity than any other reason at this point). I'm familiar with Nintendo, and Volkswagen I'm not convinced yet qualifies in the anti-consumer area. Sure, they gamed the testing, but apparently they're not the only ones.

--
The cesspool just got a check and balance.
Re: Rocking With My Sony by JohnFen · 2015-10-29 05:29 · Score: 1

You're only harming yourself, really.
We live in interesting times indeed when avoiding the products of a company that intentionally and aggressively attacks you is considered "harming yourself".

Me too! by fizzer06 · 2015-10-28 11:10 · Score: 5, Insightful

made hackers love to hate them

I'm not a hacker, but I hate Sony too.

Re:Me too! by bobbied · 2015-10-28 12:06 · Score: 1

made hackers love to hate them
I'm not a hacker, but I hate Sony too.
But do you LOVE the fact that you hate them? See? Bad people love to hate...

--
"File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
Re:Me too! by pr0t0 · 2015-10-28 13:55 · Score: 5, Informative

I just posted this the other day, but is relevant and bears repeating:
More than a few years ago, Sony put rootkits on some of their music CD's. It was abhorrently wrong, they knew it, they did it anyway. That was the last straw for me. It came after SOE released Everquest II incomplete and broken. It came after proprietary audio formats (strong push against MP3) and proprietary media. It was during a time of suing grandmothers for music downloading. It was during a time of Sony's clear (ongoing?) campaign against its customers and fans.
Since that time, I have not purchased Sony music, will not buy Sony consumer electronics, and won't even see a Sony pictures movie. I boycott ALL Sony related products and services, and have for the last ten years. People need to wake up and exercise the only power they have by voting with their wallets. We have to keep these companies terrified that such missteps will lead to their ruin, or else sleep in the bed we made without complaint.
FYI - Here's a pretty comprehensive list of Sony's subsidiaries: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

--
I'm sorry, but your opinion seems to be wrong.
Re:Me too! by sconeu · 2015-10-28 15:04 · Score: 1

Sony put rootkits on some of their music CD's
No, they were not CDs. They didn't not meet Red Book standards, and hence were not CDs. IIRC, Phillips made them stop using the CDDA logo.
What happened was that Sony put rootkits on silver disks with music on them.

--
General Relativity: Space-time tells matter where to go; Matter tells space-time what shape to be.
Re:Me too! by bigfinger76 · 2015-10-28 16:24 · Score: 3, Informative

It's irrelevant to the discussion, however.
Re:Me too! by silentcoder · 2015-10-28 23:38 · Score: 1

Well he could be holding out for a steambox next month ?
Or maybe he still plays on a WII ?

--
Unicode killed the ASCII-art *
Re:Me too! by Stuarticus · 2015-10-28 23:46 · Score: 3, Informative

Technically the disc is a compact disc, they don't meet the standard of an audio CD-DA which the red book defines.

--
If you think someone isn't free to have a different definition of "freedom" you may be a tyrant.
Re:Me too! by elvesrus · 2015-10-29 01:42 · Score: 1

Only up to the 360. The Xbone has blu ray.

Not the first thing by Anonymous Coward · 2015-10-28 11:10 · Score: 1

Pushing Memory Stick when we already had SD Card which had the same form factor was the first thing.

Or was it mini-disc?

Pushing their proprietary formats, was the first thing.

Re:Not the first thing by plover · 2015-10-28 11:22 · Score: 4, Insightful

Amen. Sony has been evil since they introduced DRM at the commercial level. "Copy bits" on DAT, on Minidiscs, CSS, HDCP, the list of shit Sony has secretly shoveled on the public is why I don't buy Sony, and why I recommend friends and family choose anything else.

--
John
Re:Not the first thing by Dusthead+Jr. · 2015-10-28 11:24 · Score: 2

ÂPushing Memory Stick when we already had SD Card which had the same form factor was the first thing.Or was it mini-disc? Pushing their proprietary formats, was the first thing.

Â To be fair MemorySticks and MiniDiscs wern't the worst ar far as proprietary formats go. Talk about XD cards and Digital Compact Cassettes.
Re:Not the first thing by Razed+By+TV · 2015-10-28 11:59 · Score: 1

Mini-discs were pretty popular for recording concerts at one point.
Re:Not the first thing by bobbied · 2015-10-28 12:08 · Score: 2

Pushing their proprietary formats, was the first thing.
So wouldn't that be BetaMax if it's the first proprietary format they pushed? The lost that one too... Sony = slow learners.
Was there anything before BetaMax with Sony's fingerprints on it?

--
"File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
Re:Not the first thing by houstonbofh · 2015-10-28 12:20 · Score: 1

And don't forget their special USB drives. http://techreport.com/news/130...
Re:Not the first thing by Tapewolf · 2015-10-28 12:41 · Score: 1

Was there anything before BetaMax with Sony's fingerprints on it?
Umatic. That did pretty well - there's probably even people still using it. Betacam also. It's easy to forget now that up until about the mid 1990s, Sony was the shit - their equipment was in practically every TV studio or production house because it was top-notch. It's been said that merging with big content companies was really when things started to go downhill and the rot set in.
If I remember right, DAT didn't originally have the copy bits either. It was added because the studios pitched a fit over the idea of people being able to make a lossless CD-quality copy and did their level best to kill the format dead. Remember when the film industry sued over the fact that a Betamax machine could record their films, and tried to kill off the industry? They were going to do the same again, and it was part of the settlement over that which gave DAT and MD their copy protection garbage.
Ironically DAT was mostly used by recording studios to replace 1/4" mastering machines. Which seemed like a good idea at the time, even thought it wasn't - e.g. if you want a 24/96 master or 24/192 you'd have to go back to the 1/4" tape anyway because DAT topped out at 16/48, and that you're more likely be able to keep a 1/4" machine in working order than a DAT unit.
Oh, Sony also came up with DSD as an alternate way of archiving master tapes. As SACD that kind of flopped, but you can still get DSD mastering machines, e.g. from TASCAM.
Re:Not the first thing by Bing+Tsher+E · 2015-10-28 14:03 · Score: 1

A lot of people forget the lack of openness in early digital media. In the 90's if you wanted to rip CD audio, you had to have one of the minority of CD-ROM drives that would rip Redbook content. There were websites with lists of the CD-ROM drives that allowed this. Most drives blocked ripping Redbook content in the drive's firmware.
Re:Not the first thing by Sir+Holo · 2015-10-28 19:26 · Score: 2

Yep. Sony used to make some really great consumer electronics in the 1980's –like my Walk-Man that was the size of a cassette tape box.
That suddenly stopped in the mid 1990's. All consumer products nose-dived in usability, durability, customer service. . . I quit buying anything SONY in the mid-1990's, for these reasons alone.
And I'm glad I did. In the following decades, Sony's love of DRM killed what could have been great platforms (e.g. mini-disc), and then later puled the rootkit stunt with music CDs around 2005.
This just solidifies my choice to avoid anything SONY. This includes custom installs for large-budget specific-need customers. Any subcontracting bid with the word "SONY" in it — I dump it in the trash without reading any specs within the bid. Any bidder thinking that a SONY product is appropriate is too stupid to have their bid carefully reviewed. I'd use a SANY or COBY product before ever patronizing SONY. Let them die.
Re:Not the first thing by Opportunist · 2015-10-28 19:33 · Score: 1

You will notice that their successes had a lot to do with them not trying to create a vendor lock-in situation where you may only buy from them and nobody else.
Wonder if Sony got the hint...

--
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.

Yup paving the way by silas_moeckel · 2015-10-28 11:16 · Score: 5, Interesting

To show that the government is unwilling to play fairly. The Rootkit should have gotten executives jailed and massive fines. Instead it was a fairly minor lawsuit and move on with business.

--
No sir I dont like it.

Re:Yup paving the way by khasim · 2015-10-28 11:24 · Score: 2

Don't forget all the "anti-virus" companies whose products would not detect the rootkit.
You would think that those companies would be issuing updates to identify and remove the rootkit a day or two after it was discovered.
You would be wrong.
Re: Yup paving the way by mlw4428 · 2015-10-29 00:51 · Score: 1

Because if your company's purpose is to provide security for your customers then your integrity means more to your customers than your business relationships. Unfortunately in today's MBA driven business culture companies are too focused on the bottom line and not focused enough on good corporate citizenship.

Schneier is not just a blog! by Anonymous Coward · 2015-10-28 11:16 · Score: 5, Informative

It contains priceless discussions, too! Often more technical and polite than most forums..

In case you missed them, here is some coverage of the Sony BMG Rootkit and a few later articles which reference it:

Re:We can all give thanks to... apk by amicusNYCL · 2015-10-28 11:17 · Score: 4, Funny

Did you just name-drop Mark Russinovich as a "co-worker" based on the two of you having once used the same reseller?

I need to go tell my esteemed colleague Elon Musk about this, he'll really get a kick out of it.

--
"Our two-party system is like a bowl of shit looking at itself in a mirror." - Lewis Black

Re:We can all give thanks to... apk by Noah+Haders · 2015-10-28 11:18 · Score: 2

would HOSTS have protected against the rootkit????

how to connect cause and effect? by Noah+Haders · 2015-10-28 11:20 · Score: 4, Insightful

I wish it could be made clearer that a lot of the hacking was motivated by rage over the rootkit and the PS3 linux block. If it were more clear, companies may think twice about giving their customers the shaft.

Re:how to connect cause and effect? by houstonbofh · 2015-10-28 12:21 · Score: 1

You missed the USB drive in the middle... 3 strikes... http://techreport.com/news/130...

The Object lessons by MrKaos · 2015-10-28 11:22 · Score: 5, Insightful

For Sony there is little doubt the object lessons were "Now how do we do this and not get caught?"

--
My ism, it's full of beliefs.

Re:The Object lessons by whoever57 · 2015-10-28 12:29 · Score: 5, Insightful

For Sony there is little doubt the object lessons were "Now how do we do this? "
FTFY

Given the tiny fine that Sony was required to pay for the rootkit fiasco, I doubt that they really care about getting caught.

--
The real "Libtards" are the Libertarians!
Re:The Object lessons by Opportunist · 2015-10-28 19:41 · Score: 1

Why bother with not getting caught? If the Rootkit verdict tells you anything, it's that getting caught does not matter.
Whether a law is broken, especially at a corporate level, depends only on the proportion of
benefit vs. fine * chance of being caught.
If either fine or chance of being caught is negligible, a law may as well not exist. The same is true if the fine is equal or lower than the benefit, because even if the chance of being caught is 1, you still come out ahead. If the fine for accepting bribes is lower than the bribes, the fine becomes a cost to operate rather than a determent. Likewise, with laughable punishments like "oh you have to give the people you caused grief and damage a few trinkets that cost you nothing", you generally don't deter. You encourage.

--
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.

Revisit the Sony Rootkit? by Dutch+Gun · 2015-10-28 11:23 · Score: 1

Bleh. Wasn't the first time enough?

--
Irony: Agile development has too much intertia to be abandoned now.

Re:Revisit the Sony Rootkit? by houstonbofh · 2015-10-28 12:19 · Score: 4, Informative

Bleh. Wasn't the first time enough?
Not for them. They did it again in a USB drive. http://techreport.com/news/130...
Re:Revisit the Sony Rootkit? by rtb61 · 2015-10-28 15:34 · Score: 2

No matter what Sony did it is still not as bad as default windows 10, by far a bigger rooting of your privacy than anything Sony did, the most extreme on record.

--
Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
Re:Revisit the Sony Rootkit? by aaaaaaargh! · 2015-10-28 21:08 · Score: 2

Yes, but Windows 10 is harder to avoid. Unfortunately.
Re:Revisit the Sony Rootkit? by houstonbofh · 2015-10-29 01:59 · Score: 1

Really? Ubuntu has been called a lot of things, but "hard" is not one of them.
Re:Revisit the Sony Rootkit? by JohnFen · 2015-10-29 05:32 · Score: 1

Windows 10 is incredibly easy to avoid. I'm doing it right now.
Re:Revisit the Sony Rootkit? by rtb61 · 2015-10-29 12:33 · Score: 1

Sorry but windows 10 will be impossible to avoid. Next time you walk in a business and they punch in your details on a windows 10 machine, you will have just been probed like it or not and if you do not like it, do something about it (keep in mind whether or not you even use a computer you will be probed and tracked every time you information runs through the windows 10 bot net, absolutely no avoiding unless you become politically active and demand a secure version).

--
Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
Re:Revisit the Sony Rootkit? by houstonbofh · 2015-10-29 16:56 · Score: 1

The only information most places will have on me is Andrew Jackson. Occasionally Benjamin Franklin to... The can not share data you do not give them.
Re:Revisit the Sony Rootkit? by JohnFen · 2015-10-30 01:13 · Score: 1

This happens no matter how secure Windows 10 is. If you're giving information to any business whatsoever, it is almost guaranteed that information is being shared or sold to others. That's been the case for many years now.

and this is why you don't see the CDDA logo on cds by laurencetux · 2015-10-28 11:27 · Score: 1

when the folks that created the standard caught on they SUED because those media discs are NOT CDDA (aka red book)

Too easy to exploit by Xian97 · 2015-10-28 11:30 · Score: 3, Interesting

Any file that started with $sys$ was hidden from the OS, so it didn't take long for people to start hiding malicious files if you had the rootkit on your system.

Old Slashdot stories on the topic: by Anonymous Coward · 2015-10-28 11:31 · Score: 4, Informative

http://it.slashdot.org/story/0...
http://games.slashdot.org/stor...
http://yro.slashdot.org/story/...
http://yro.slashdot.org/story/...
http://it.slashdot.org/story/0...
http://yro.slashdot.org/story/...
http://yro.slashdot.org/story/...
http://yro.slashdot.org/story/...
http://yro.slashdot.org/story/...
http://it.slashdot.org/story/0...
http://yro.slashdot.org/story/...
http://news.slashdot.org/story...
http://yro.slashdot.org/story/...
http://apple.slashdot.org/stor...

Re:It's why I used quotes & I floored him befo by amicusNYCL · 2015-10-28 11:40 · Score: 1

He's not my "god", and neither are you, little man.

I just wanted to clarify that you two were not, in fact, co-workers. But I like how your first post seems very complimentary of him, when he was your "co-worker", and then you turn around and try and tear him down after you "floor" and "shame" him. Have some self-confidence, I'm not trying to attack you any more than I'm trying to elevate Russinovich. I do respect his work though, and I have a hard time respecting what you do based solely on your constant trollish flaming and bizarre behavior on this site.

--
"Our two-party system is like a bowl of shit looking at itself in a mirror." - Lewis Black

Re:Please: You WISH you were me... apk by bigfinger76 · 2015-10-28 11:45 · Score: 5, Insightful

No one gives a shit, APK. Not one person here gives a shit about anything you have to "say".

I used to work for SONY,, by Anonymous Coward · 2015-10-28 11:54 · Score: 2, Interesting

Sony, Has a bunch of briliant people working away in the engineering sections of the company,,
but once you peirce the management wall, things change..
People de-volve into their "HIGH SCHOOL" distilates..

It's like going back to highshcool with all the social cliqiues, and whos cool, bla bla, but the big difference is they all have money and can action on most if not everything that comes to mind, negative or not..

to make matters worse, my superior was a very racially charged individual with a focus on Jews and Homosexuals. It was a shame the crap that used to fall out of his mouth.. It got so bad tward the end, they moved his office next to HR, due to the sheer ammounts of complaints being filed.. They finally got rid of him once they found another individual to take his place with a 10% cut in pay for the equivalent work..
I am by no means perfect, but I conduct my self in a professional and business manner every day when interacting with my fellows at the work place..
It seems Sony has not discovered that part of the world yet..
As far as I am concerned, Sony got what they Got, and deserved it.. Although based on the series of events that has unfolded since this incident, its a shame that Sony is unwilling or unable to learn from its past mistakes.. And now various people have cropped up to challenge them on it, as you can see in the press releases over the years chronicling Sony's blunderfucks year after year..
thank you for your time.

Moral of the story... by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · 2015-10-28 12:10 · Score: 1

The only BMG you can trust is the M2. On the plus side, Sony has largely stagnated to the point where their formerly-inferior Korean rivals are markedly cheaper and at least as good, so hopefully we won't have to worry about them too much longer.

Re:Moral of the story... by Fire_Wraith · 2015-10-28 12:16 · Score: 2

I also wonder if they didn't perhaps learn something, however painfully, from it all, as when Microsoft started talking about all the ridiculous DRM they were going to put on XBox One games, Sony responded by saying "Yeah, we're not doing that, share your games with friends all you like as far as we're concerned", and Microsoft had to quickly backtrack.

(Alternate lesson: Only Microsoft could wind up turning Sony into the 'good guys' in a situation.)
Re:Moral of the story... by AHuxley · 2015-10-28 14:45 · Score: 2

Re "we won't have to worry about"
The other side is a new legal idea that the brand owns the media, device, software flow and the user is just along for/granted a very limited rental experience.
"DOJ Claims Apple Should Be Forced To Decrypt iPhones Because Apple, Not Customers, 'Own' iOS" (Oct 26th 2015 )
https://www.techdirt.com/artic...
Some extra special hidden software might be back in a new way on any device or OS.

--
Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"

Re:really? are you that naive? by houstonbofh · 2015-10-28 12:24 · Score: 1

And again 7 years ago. And again 5 years ago... There was the CD rootkit, the USB rootkit, and Xbox Linux removal...

Sony doesn't own Download.com by gweilo8888 · 2015-10-28 13:03 · Score: 4, Informative

If you're going to snark, it helps to be right. Sony doesn't own Download.com, something you could've confirmed for yourself in seconds.

Download.com is a C|Net created site owned by C|NET parent company CBS Interactive, which in turn is owned by CBS Corp, which in turn is owned by National Amusements. Finally, National Amusements' majority owner is owned by Sumner Redstone (aka Rothstein) and family.

Re:It's why I used quotes & I floored him befo by arth1 · 2015-10-28 13:24 · Score: 1

You don't have to be a shrink to tell that apk has some issues, any more than you have to be a doctor to tell that the guy without legs has a disability.
There's never any need to enter a discussion with people like apk, Archimedes Plutonium or Ed Conrad - the most you can achieve is goading, and that's kind of cruel.

Re:Please: You WISH you were me... apk by Khyber · 2015-10-28 14:18 · Score: 1

Your shit HOSTs didn't protect my boyfriend from having his Steam hijacked.

Can you even claim effectiveness in your product with truth?

Because 5TB of hosed shit says otherwise.

--
Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.

Re:You obviously do (why else reply?)... apk by bigfinger76 · 2015-10-28 14:28 · Score: 2

if you put in a FRACTION of the energy your kind does in trolling, you'd be putting us all to shame

You're getting close to a breakthrough. So close...

Re:Please: You WISH you were me... apk by bigfinger76 · 2015-10-28 16:04 · Score: 1

Please tell me you didn't pay money for a hosts file.

Re:really? are you that naive? by Osgeld · 2015-10-28 16:26 · Score: 1

xbox?

not sure if being a wiseass or not...

SONY Removal SW borked my PC by BeCre8iv · 2015-10-28 18:03 · Score: 2

Brand new Beastie Boys CD rookits my system.

Removal SW breaks IDE CDROM driver - inconvenient reinstall

Beastie Boys CD ripped to MP3 (the old fashioned way) CD made safe.

Never bought another SONY product (and very few CDS)

SONY deserves what they get for ever after. (no sympathy)

--
This perpetual motion machine Lisa made is a joke, it just keeps getting faster and faster. - Homer

Re:SONY Removal SW borked my PC by Locke2005 · 2015-10-29 05:32 · Score: 1

Sounds like a perfect case of Karma to me -- you listen to Beastie Boys, you should be forced to suffer! ;-)

--
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.

Re:Pales in comparison to Microsoft and Jews by Anonymous Coward · 2015-10-28 19:20 · Score: 1

tl;dr

Re:We can all give thanks to... apk by Opportunist · 2015-10-28 19:31 · Score: 2

Please, don't talk to him. That's worse than saying Beetlejuice thrice.

--
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.

No, it s not by treczoks · 2015-10-28 21:12 · Score: 1

Because not adhering to the red book standard can be interpreted as being "intentionally defective". Which was the legal way to go until SONY caved in and started to replace the CDs.

There are object lessons from the incident... by DarkOx · 2015-10-28 23:39 · Score: 1

There is basically one object lesson:

Laws are for little people, and companies like Sony are to big to [effectively] prosecute because...reasons...

Lets face it if you're a teenage kid and you commit some minor mostly harmless act of vandalism with a computer in some way you go to jail. If you make some copies of journals you get relentlessly prosecuted. You make a copy of Sony's IP you get slapped with $100K plus fines on you as an individual. You write jail break for a Sony product they do everything they can to destroy your life.

If you are big company like Sony with media connections, you get a comparatively minor fine and are made to compensate victims to such a minor degree that it won't even cover their costs if they need profession assistance to clean up your hack.

If you or I did what Sony did we'd see the FBI seize or domain, and redirect visitors. Why did Sony get to keep Sony.com? Its fucking bullshit.

--
Repeal the 17th Amendment TODAY! Also Please Read http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html

Re:really? are you that naive? by houstonbofh · 2015-10-29 01:58 · Score: 1

Doh! Ooops... Not like there is any difference now since you can't homebrew either one anymore.

Re:Please: You WISH you were me... apk by Khyber · 2015-10-29 02:13 · Score: 1

I didn't pay for or do shit.

Especially when I know HOSTs is fucking useless in the first place.

--
Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.

I'm sure it hasn't hurt them by wseehorn · 2015-10-29 05:00 · Score: 1

But I returned the last Sony product I bought 10 years ago and haven't bought anything from them since.

Re:/.'ers & security pros disagree + proof you by bigfinger76 · 2015-10-29 05:03 · Score: 1

Thanks for the gibberish.

Re:I merely told the truth 100% "ne'er-do-well" by amicusNYCL · 2015-10-29 05:06 · Score: 1

APK, why would I want to be you? If I Google your name the first result is a post from someone you threatened to sue and then backed out of, which shows more of your ridiculous behavior and chest-puffing. The second result is you spamming and trolling another forum. The whole first page is littered with examples of you being an idiot. Why would I want that for myself? Why would I want my professional reputation to be that of a belligerent asshole?

You don't know a thing about me, but that doesn't stop you from going around and making baseless claims. I do know some things about you though, so I guarantee that my software has more users than yours. And no, in no way, shape, or form am I interested in even attempting to prove that, I don't need you spamming my boss with random bolding and punctuation to tell him that his CTO is something that I'm not. You don't know me, you don't know anything about me. You're a run-of-the-mill Common Troll, spouting baseless shit and thinking that you somehow scored some points, while making yourself look like an idiot. No, I do not want to be like you.

You're probably a 10lb soaking wet whimp's my guess

Case in point regarding your powers of assumption. I'll give you one thing about me: I'm 6'1", 190lbs. Maybe go for a nice jog today instead of getting yourself worked up online like you do every other day.

Bring him in here. I'll do it again here publicly.

I called Mark Russinovich and asked him if he wanted to come to Slashdot and "debate" you, and he said that, considering the fact that he's the CTO of Microsoft Azure now, he doesn't really have time for that. What have you done in the past 15 years? Oh, you made a utility to manage a flat text file that you spam endlessly? La-de-fucking-da. You want to compare yourself to Russinovich? How about this: he has created a professional reputation for himself wherein he is generally respected, well-liked, and well-regarded. Those are professional qualities that have managed to elude you. Your professional reputation is a troll, nothing more. No one in their right mind would load any binary coming from you on their system.

--
"Our two-party system is like a bowl of shit looking at itself in a mirror." - Lewis Black

Its all a matter of risk assesment by TeddyR · 2015-10-29 05:28 · Score: 1

Sony makes more profit as an insurance company than it does with all its other subsidiaries combined......

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05...
http://www.bloomberg.com/bw/ar...

--

--
Time is on my side

Not the only bad thing Sony did by Locke2005 · 2015-10-29 05:30 · Score: 1

I bought my daughter a Sony MP3 player a few years ago, brought it home, and discovered it would only play MP3's that were wrapped in Sony's proprietary wrapper, and applying the wrapper locked it for a single device so if you lost the device, you had to repurchase the MP3! I took it back to the store and returned it with the explanation that it was defective because it didn't play actual MP3s! Sony abandoned the Sony Soundstage BS shortly after that, apparently enough other people were upset by it that it hurt their sales. Since buying a $600 Sony "Dream Machine" DVD player that was a complete piece of crap, I've pretty much been boycotting Sony (Called for warranty repaird of DVD player, it was an automated system that no matter what was said, would respond "I don't understand you!" until you gave up - way to keep those warranty repair costs down, Sony!) Problem is, now for console games we have to choose between two evils: Sony or Microsoft. Which company is worse? (I'm leaning towards buying an Xbox One.)

--
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.

Re:Keep projecting you wish you were me by amicusNYCL · 2015-10-29 07:01 · Score: 1

Nice schizophrenic reply, I like how you avoided addressing my points and instead decided to just continue pimping yourself as some kind of OCD prodigy.

I have no other accounts on Slashdot, and I don't post anonymously unless I'm providing details on a sensitive topic that I don't want traced to me.

IF you even have a job

Sure do. I even have one of those fancy degrees. 13 years ago I was an intern here, today I'm the CTO making 6 figures. Thanks for asking. If you're curious (you know you are...) I'm buying my second house and have a new Mercedes. I've got a good woman waiting for me at home also so, no, I don't wish that I was an OCD troll trying to convince the world that I'm a prodigy. You obviously believe your own legend, but in all of my years on Slashdot (including before I created my account) I have never seen a single person validate any of your so-called "skills". No one sticks up for you. You appear to be your only believer.

--
"Our two-party system is like a bowl of shit looking at itself in a mirror." - Lewis Black

Re:Thank-You VERY much... apk by amicusNYCL · 2015-10-29 07:07 · Score: 1

Are you fucking kidding me? How goddamn pathetic are you that you need to anonymously reply as someone sticking up for yourself, and then reply to that agreeing with yourself? Do you have any concept at all about how transparent you are? You might think you're really clever by omitting line breaks and avoiding random punctuation but you clearly can't hide your OCD voice and tone.

This is unreal. This is why people say not to feed the trolls. I'm taking their advice, I'm done with this so-called "conversation". Feel free to rant to yourself, I'll never get a notification that you've responded.

--
"Our two-party system is like a bowl of shit looking at itself in a mirror." - Lewis Black

Re:AmicusNYCL, CTO of 'fantasyland' inc. hahahahah by amicusNYCL · 2015-10-29 07:41 · Score: 1

Look at all of your troll replies, look at all of the child-like thrashing. You've spent 50 years wandering this planet alone, and you have the emotional maturity of a wet tissue to show for it all. Well done. Obviously this kind of self-promotion is your therapy, maybe if you believe that you're a great person then someone else will too, right? Maybe if you declare "victory" enough times, someone else will think you've won something. I highly recommend seeing a well-qualified therapist, at your age you should really understand how to connect with people above a third-grade level. There's a therapist right across Oswego, give him a call. The computer isn't going to love you back, you know.

--
"Our two-party system is like a bowl of shit looking at itself in a mirror." - Lewis Black

Re:I merely told the truth 100% "ne'er-do-well" by amicusNYCL · 2015-10-30 04:53 · Score: 1

You seem to be having a hard time grasping this APK, so let me spell it out for you.

I already told you I was not interested in proving my claims. The reason I am not interested is because proof of my claims would necessarily require me to personally identify myself to you, and I'm not willing to do that. I'm not willing to identify myself to you for the same reason that I'm not willing to contract herpes voluntarily. Science just doesn't have a cure for that yet. I'm not willing to expose myself, my family, or my co-workers to abuse from you, and based on the behavior you have exhibited online over the past 15 years, I believe that that is what would happen if you knew who I am.

I know what I've accomplished. You don't. I'm fine with that. I don't care if you believe my claims, your opinion is not important to me. I don't have to prove anything to you. I can see a record of what you've done, all of the little "utilities" you've produced (managing a flat text file, messing with the Windows registry, etc), and I can look at what I've done, and I am confident and secure in my own knowledge that my software has had more of an impact on people than yours. Before becoming the CTO I redesigned and personally developed a brand new version of our 13-year old software, and since then it's gone through another major version change with several additional programmers, and the reach that this system has is enough proof to me that I've surpassed your so-called "contributions". This application is the reason why our 20 year old company is still around, I can look at our servers any day of the week and see hundreds of thousands of people worldwide using it to help them do their jobs. Like I just explained above, I do not feel any need or desire to attempt to prove this to you, I'm not going to identify my account on Slashdot just so I can prove a point to the most notorious man-child on the internet.

Your other taunting is completely hollow. You can post all you want how you've "beaten" me, as if you've won something, or how sad I must feel, or whatever you want to say using numerous posts where you transparently try to make it seem like you have people who support you. I'll tell you what the truth is though, I'll tell you the extent of how I felt about you after our previous "conversation".

The only thing I feel towards you is curiosity. I wonder how you came to be 50 and still behave like this, which is how you were behaving at 35 also. It's obviously a pattern. I wonder why you feel the need to make yourself sound so wonderful, like you go around online winning battles with people who aren't fighting with you. I wonder what your early life was like, your schooling, what friends you had, how people treated you, how your parents handled you, what your brother thinks of you, what your first relationship was like. I wonder if you're even attracted to people the same way others are, or if you only love yourself. Or IF you even love yourself, or if you say the things you do out of a lack of self-confidence, as if you saying those things enough will make them true. I wonder what's going on in your head that makes your behavior so much different than other people I've encountered.

I wonder if you've ever sought therapy, I wonder if you even believe that your behavior is detrimental or if you think it's desirable and beneficial (OCPD maybe?). In short, I would be curious to read a third-party biography of you to try and illuminate the events in your life that have culminated in you wandering the internet, relentlessly self-promoting, and picking fights and claiming victory with anyone that will respond to you. It's interesting to me. That's what I feel about you. I don't feel defeated, I don't feel sad, I don't feel bad about myself, I'm not running anywhere, I'm not foaming at the mouth, I'm not "raging" (I'm not even the tiniest bit angry at you).

I haven't thought about you after I went home last night, I wasn't thinking about you when I woke up this morning, or driving into work, but you're still following me around on Slashdot posting links to your other comments, so obviously you're thinking about me. Hopefully this post clears it up for you.

--
"Our two-party system is like a bowl of shit looking at itself in a mirror." - Lewis Black

Re:You're a hot air windbag bullshitter then by amicusNYCL · 2015-10-30 06:27 · Score: 1

Read above, APK. It's not that I can't back anything up, it's just that I won't. Like I said, I don't care about proving anything to you. I don't care if you believe me. My achievements do not require your belief.

A finalist position? Well done. Several years ago we submitted a piece of technology to the organization that runs the awards for our industry, it was a piece that we developed in partnership with the Air Force. We submitted it in a niche category (specialized technology) that didn't have all that much competition, and the award organization decided to instead put us in the largest category (general) and then give us the gold award. We beat out teams from companies like Adobe, Microsoft, Cisco, etc, in the most difficult category that we didn't even submit our work to. Am I going to prove that either? Nope. But I know it's true. I can walk into the conference room and look at that award on the wall, and see the picture of me and my team on stage with our Air Force partners and the presenters, and I can look at the awards that the Air Force gave us. Do I care if you believe me? No, I don't. Your lack of belief will not make that award or our achievements disappear.

Are you starting to get the idea, APK? Here, I'll write in all caps and bold letters, I know you enjoy things that way:

I DON'T CARE WHAT YOU THINK ABOUT ME

I'm not willing to prove anything. If you want to throw out all of your so-called achievements from 15 years ago (what have you done lately, by the way?), go ahead buddy. If you want to know why I don't want to prove anything, again, read what I wrote in the previous post.

And enough with the posting referring to yourself in the third person as if you're someone else, it just looks desperate.

--
"Our two-party system is like a bowl of shit looking at itself in a mirror." - Lewis Black

Re:Additionally, I'll let others speak for me by amicusNYCL · 2015-10-30 07:52 · Score: 1

APK, I'm happy for you that you were able to write a piece of software that can read/write to a plain text file. Really, it's fantastic. Those quotes above prove that you are completely capable of being able to write an application that can output to plain text. I don't want to take that away from you. Granted, some of those quotes are talking about using the hosts file in general and nothing that you've actually done yourself, but still, I don't want to take anything away from your achievement of creating an application that outputs to plain text. I'm sorry, read AND write plain text, I don't want to diminish your additional achievement of reading plain text either.

I back myself NO problem, why can't you?

I can. I just won't. What do I gain if I do? Nothing I need. What do I lose? Anonymity.

You're not telling the truth is why I suspect

100% of what I've claimed about myself is true. I'm sorry if you refuse to accept that.

you brought this all on yourself

Yeah, and boy, what a heavy burden. You're really affecting me deeply here.

YOU CAME IN HERE GIVING ME GUFF for things I've actually done

No, I CAME IN HERE GIVING YOU GUFF for trying to claim that you once worked with Mark Russinovich, which was a lie. Putting co-worker in quotes doesn't mean it's not a lie.

but it's simple enough for me to show everyone here just what you are

No it's not, you don't even know who I am, much less what.

I don't see ANYONE on /. prior to this posting EVER speak well of wares you've written, now do they?

I have not identified who I am to anyone on this site. So, no, you won't find anyone here pointing to this account and linking it with anything that I've done outside of Slashdot. You won't find links to my accounts on other programming forums, or any personal website or blog, or a company page, etc. You won't find anyone here linking my account with the work I've done, in either a positive or a negative way. The strength of Slashdot is that people can come together and discuss things without ego getting in the way, what you say here is who you are unless you choose to identify yourself. Assuming you actually bother to register an account, anyway. Without registering an account then you have no accountability at all, you have no post history. I'm choosing to allow people to go back and look at things I've said in order to get an idea about what I believe. You accept no kind of accountability for yourself, people cannot find every post you've made. I understand why, because very shortly you would find yourself always posting at -1, but still, there's no accountability for you.

but I am sure by now with these evasions of yours what OTHERS HERE THINK OF YOU

Saying that you are "sure" doesn't mean anything. If there's one thing I've learned from this episode it is that you are completely delusional. I think that you are willfully delusional, I think that you create your own lies and then invest in them fully. That's part of what makes me so curious about what made you this way. Something in your life happened to make you act like this, because you consistently do it, over and over and over again. It's not a normal way to behave, but you stick to it like stink on shit. It's fascinating.

For an alleged programmer you're not even logical

Coming from you, judging what is and is not logical is pretty rich. The foundation of any post you make is full of random assumptions. Logic has nothing to do with your posts. You're still making assumptions about me. You probably think that you're "winning", or that I'm feeling bad about myself, or ascribing any number of emotions to me that simply aren't true. You're fighting a fight with yourself and claiming victory, you don't even understa

--
"Our two-party system is like a bowl of shit looking at itself in a mirror." - Lewis Black

Re:Pales in comparison to Microsoft and Jews by Maritz · 2015-11-01 22:09 · Score: 1

Jesus Christ is perfect.

Everybody's imaginary friend is perfect, buddeh, that's why you have them.

--
I do not want your cheap brainburning drugs. They are useless for work. And I am a working man today.

Re:LOL: "We" != YOU individually whimp! by amicusNYCL · 2015-11-03 05:07 · Score: 1

You're still humping my leg, are you APK?

I'll tell you what this reminds me of. When I was in college I played a lot of a game called Mechwarrior 4. I was good at it, it got to the point where I was consistently ranked as one of the top few scores for each week, if not the first. I just played it a lot and got good at it, that's all. Frequently when I was at my best other people in the matches would accuse me of cheating. I would consistently kill them and they would talk about how I couldn't be doing that unless I was cheating, you can't aim or fire that fast, etc, whatever the excuse. That was the best compliment I got from anyone while playing that game. I was beating those people so badly that they were absolutely positive that I couldn't just do that myself, I had to be cheating somehow. I've never installed or used a game cheat program in my life.

That's what I see from you now. I've given you claims about my life, and not even that great either. I've got a degree, I went from intern to CTO, our company has won awards for the projects I've developed, we've got hundreds of thousands to millions of people using our software, etc. Those aren't even outlandish claims, I'm sure any number of people on this site have similar stories. I don't consider myself any kind of superstar programmer either. I'm very good at what I do in my role as a CTO, but there are plenty of places I can improve as a programmer. I have books on my shelf like The Art Of Computer Programming or Code Complete that I haven't read yet. I've only been to a small number of programming conferences. I don't do much with open source or Github, etc. There are places where I can and want to improve and just haven't been able to take the time to make that happen yet.

Even so, look at you. You appear to be completely convinced that the things I'm telling you can't possibly be true. I've already told you that I'm not going to identify myself, but here you are, demanding proof of my claims. You can't let it go. You're convinced that the things I'm telling you are lies.

I appreciate the compliments, although it's kind of sad what that says about you and your self-confidence.

As for individual work, if you're going to ask for more claims then I'll be happy to give them to you. The company I work for right now runs all of its bookkeeping and project tracking from a system that I personally designed and developed 12 years ago, and all of our clients interact with the same system. There's another company that I was working with briefly who also runs software that I personally designed and developed to do similar things, to interact with all of their clients. Their clients can log on to their site and have access to all of their records and data that would otherwise stay in another third-party proprietary system running on the servers. My software is a link to that data for the customers, and that company has remarked several times that this system is what sets them apart from all of their competitors. The company that the software interfaces with also was interested in getting my software to bundle with theirs but I didn't have time to try and make that happen. And, like I've said before, the main application that our company sells was in fact originally designed and developed by me. I was working on that version for 3 years supporting 30 corporate/military clients using it all by myself before we got another programmer to start helping me. We currently employ 1 additional programmer other than me (good help is hard to find). I'm in charge of all of the company's internal systems and tools and multiple versions of our major application, personally. And yes, I'm also good at working on a team.

Let me know if you have any other questions that you'd like me to answer, or if you just want to keep spending your time throwing out random insults and otherwise spinning your wheels. Like I said, I'm flattered that you find the reality of my life so unconvincing, but again there are many other people li

--
"Our two-party system is like a bowl of shit looking at itself in a mirror." - Lewis Black

Slashdot Mirror

Revisiting the Infamous Sony BMG Rootkit Scandal 10 Years Later (networkworld.com)

85 of 188 comments (clear)