Texas is now filing a civil lawsuit against Sony BMG.
Sony is seeing a drop in CD sales. Music artists are also upset with Sony over the rootkit. See the full story 'Sony's Escalating "Spyware" Fiasco' By Lorraine Woellert at BusinessWeekOnline.
The RIAA is also jumping into the act. I guess they feel the need to make stupid statements. The RIAA feels that Sony hyas done nothing wrong and the technology is at fault. I just love it when a company shoots themself in the foot. More information can be found at Slashdot in the posting 'President of RIAA Says Sony-BMG Did Nothing Wrong.'
Update: 2005.11.18
Schneier on Security has a nice post entitled 'Sony's DRM Rootkit: The Real Story.' This posting is a nice summary of the whole issue.
Update: 2005.11.15
There is some good news and some bad news.
First the bad news. Sony has released an unistaller for the rootkit that leaves a security hole.
Sony’s Web-Based Uninstaller Opens a Big Security Hole; Sony to Recall Discs
Now for the good news. Sony said that they will pull the CD's from the stores and Sony is offering an exchange for those who already bought a CD.
Sony to pull controversial CDs, offer swap
Update: 2005.11.14
Microsoft's AnitSpyware application called 'Windows Defender' will detect and remove the rootkit.
Microsoft to Zap Sony DRM 'Rootkit'
Microsoft: Sony Anti-Piracy Software Is Spyware
Sony goofed big time again. The rootkit contains pieces of code that are identical to another peice of licensed code in another program. I just love it. Sony claims it is trying to protect its property with the rootkit and violates that rights of another license holder do it.
Spyware Sony seems to breach copyright
I thought the rootkit was bad. You should check out this article 'Now the Legalese Rootkit: Sony-BMG's EULA' Sony wants to change what you can do with a CD you buy.
Update: 2005.11.11
The Register has a nice summary what is going on. The summary is entitled 'Sony BMG faces digital-rights seige.'
Both Slashdot and Gizmodo have posts about the Sony Rootkit for the Mac.
It appears that Sony is finally reaction to all the pressure and critisim. Sony halts production of music CDs with copy-protection scheme.
Update: 2005.11.10
More lawsuits for Sony. California has filed a lawsuit agains Sony.
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/11/10/0024259&from=rss
Virus writes are now taken advantage of the Sony rootkit. From the reports I have seen the virus has been found in the wild.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/11/10/sony_drm_trojan/
Update: 2005.11.08
Sony is now being sued over the rootkit.
http://reviews.cnet.com/4531-10921_7-6378758.html?tag=blog
Thomas Hesse the President of Sony BMG's global digital business division has something to say about the rootkit issuse.
"Most people, I think, don't even know what a rootkit is, so why should they care about it?" he huffed.
WHAT?!? What kind of response is this! Mr. Hesse's comment is totally unacceptable. Mr. Hesse please turn in your resignation.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/11/09/sony_drm_who_cares/
Original Post: 2005.11.07
Wow. Sony has really got a PR nightmare on its hands. I would like to make is known that I like Sony hardware but after reading the following links I am going to have to reconsider buying anything from Sony.
Sony in an over zealous act has added a rootkit to many of the audio CD's that was released in the last eight months or so. A rootkit is a term used to describe as set of programs that attempt to hide their presence from spyware blockers and antivirus programs. Rootkits are typically associated with malware, including viruses, spyware, and trojans. Sony is using the rootkit to add extra copy protection to their audio CDs. This is bad. In an effort to protect its intellectual property rights Sony has felt justified in installing additional software on my computer without clearly explaining what the software does and without my explicit approval. There is an argument that the EULA contains language that grants permission to Sony to install software. If we have learned anything about software is that there is individuals who will try to exploit any weakness found in the software. I have not found any reported cases of the Sony rootkit being exported but the possibility exists. The rootkit is difficult to remove without completely wiping out and rebuilding the computer in question.
Instead of taking the high road by releasing an uninstall for the rootkit Sony released an update to the rootkit that makes is visible. There are three main problems with this. The first is they did not remove the rootkit. Secondly the update can crash windows. Lastly the update contains additional software. It appears that the rootkit now calls back to Sony with information.
I am not happy with the any of the actions that Sony has taken. I feel that I am left with only on choice. I will not be purchasing any Sony product. I encourage you to take the time to read the following links and post your thoughts here.
http://www.sysinternals.com/blog/2005/10/sony-rootkits-and-digital-rights.html
http://www.infoworld.com/article/05/11/03/HNsonypatch_1.html
http://wwwhttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif.infoworld.com/article/05/11/04/HNsonydrm_1.html
http://www.infoworld.com/article/05/11/07/HNsonypatchcrasheswindows_1.html
http://tech.memeorandum.com/051103/p45#a051103p45
http://tech.memeorandum.com/051105/p4#a051105p4
http://techdirt.com/articles/20051104/180213_F.shtml
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4989260&ft=1&f=3
http://www.sqljunkies.com/WebLog/donkiely/archive/2005/10/31/17265.aspx
http://www.wired.com/news/rants/0,2350,69467,00.html
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/11/01/sony_rootkit_drm/
http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=27426
http://www.pcworld.com/resource/article/0,aid,123438,pg,1,RSS,RSS,00.asp
http://www.freedom-to-tinker.com/?p=921
http://news.com.com/2100-7355_3-5926657.html
http://blog.ericgoldman.org/archives/2005/11/sony_drm_and_tr.htm
http://www.sysinternals.com/blog/2005/11/more-on-sony-dangerous-decloaking.html
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