12-16-2005, 03:00 AM
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Contributing Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 8,228
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Nice Post-Mortem On The Sony Rootkit Debacle
http://www.watchguard.com/RSS/showarticle.aspx?pack=RSS.SonyDRM3
With the release of a few patches yesterday for Internet Explorer and the December version of the Malicious Software Removal Tool, Sony's infect... oops, I mean incredibly onerous method of DRM, also known as "The Rootkit", will finally start vanishing from the bit repository we call a hard drive.
WatchGuard has a nice article recapping the whole incident, from Sony's initial invasion of your system to Microsoft swooping in to kick it out. 
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12-16-2005, 05:18 PM
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Intellectual
Join Date: Nov 2002
Posts: 238
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I think this writer is cutting way too much slack on Sony. They've, in my opinion, violated the Patriot Act. If some 17 year old kid had done what Sony did, to computers world wide, the kid would be in an FBI office facing terrorism charges. Why is it that Sony gets off so easily?
To say that Sony and the recording has learned their lesson is extremely short sighted. The only thing they've learned is to cover their tracks better. The president of RIAA has stated that Sony hasn't done anything wrong, they were just protecting their property. This is like anwsering the front door with a loaded shotgun in your hands.
Sony has a long record of tampering with technology. They seem to believe the only way to make it in business is to keep everyone else out of their systems. If it can be made proprietary, they will do it and charge outrageous licensing fees before they share the technology.
Is this the end of the Sony rootkit? Maybe, but I fully expect to see further attacks on our technology.
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Bill B
Zune Tag - therealstlbud
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01-03-2006, 12:47 PM
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Theorist
Join Date: Mar 2002
Posts: 305
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Sony's Mea Culpa
Hey, it might be worth it now to find a ' infected ' Sony disc that hasn't made its way off the retail shelves yet! :devilboy:
Sony BMG Ends a Legal Nightmare
The label has quickly settled the class action over its "secret" copy-protection software. That's good for all parties -- including the future of digital music.
As peace treaties go, it might be one of history's swiftest negotiations. On Dec. 28, Sony BMG settled a consolidated class-action lawsuit filed by consumers just six weeks earlier over particularly aggressive copy protections embedded in millions of the record label's CDs.
Sony BMG -- a joint venture of Sony (SNE) and Bertelsmann -- will give away millions of free downloads and CDs, shun similar copy-protection schemes, and establish rigorous oversight of the company's digital-rights management.
If the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York approves the deal in the coming weeks, as is expected, the settlement could set the groundwork for a broader d�tente between creative content providers -- such as Hollywood, the recording studios, and software designers -- and the growing number of consumers rankled by the industry's attempts to control what people can do with their legally purchased CDs, DVDs, and other digitized material. A Sony BMG spokesman declined comment, except to say the company was "pleased" with the arrangement.
Under terms of the settlement, consumers who purchased disks programmed with the rootkit can get a free replacement, $7.50 in cash, and a free download of one of 200 Sony BMG albums from one of three music-download sites, including Apple Computer's (AAPL) iTunes. Audiophiles who don't want to bother with a small check can forgo the cash in favor of three free album downloads. Consumers who bought CDs in 2003 and 2004, containing earlier versions of the copy-protection software, are offered free downloads of their disks' content.
http://www.businessweek.com/technolo...230_658336.htm
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