After a flurry of thousands of blog postings (those pesky bloggers!) exposing the nasty malware Sony CD's had been hiding on people's computers (here's my original discussion of the situation), Sony has, predictably, made an (empty) Public Relations move.
Sony has released a "patch" which the mainstream media is covering with misleading headlines like "Sony Music issues fix to anti-piracy program." But all this "patch" does is make some of the internal files associated with their nasty program appear less hidden. It doesn't do a thing to address the majority of the problems with the malware. It doesn't remove the sneaky DRM. And, rumor has it that this patch will reinfect a machine that was previously cleansed of the malware. (Read Sony's spin here)
Here's the original list of issues from my previous article:
- 1. The hidden software is poorly written, and hogs computer resources at all times, even when CD's aren't being played.
- 2. Its hiding techniques could inadvertently make it easy for others to hide software on the machine.
- 3. It takes actions that could result in a system crash.
- 4. It disguises itself as a legitimate Windows service.
- 5. It doesn't provide a way to remove the software.
- 6. Upon manual removal of the software, the CD drive can be rendered useless.
The new Sony patch only addresses issue #2. It totally ignores the rest of them, and of course ignores the broader issue that Digital Rights Management is bad for everyone. If the movie- and music-industry owned politicians have their way, "forget, realistically, that your computer will ever be under your control again."
Here's a longer article on this subject: Sony DRM is worse than you might think.
By the way, Universal Music uses the same DRM malware. UPDATE 11/29/05: Since First 4 Internet has removed all their pages that admit to this, read the excerpts on Google's search results page instead.
My previous article for more background on this subject: Sony CD's caught installing extremely well-hidden and sketchy DRM software
UPDATE: Lawsuits against Sony for sneaky DRM, and refuted denials from malware author (Nov. 7, 2005)
UPDATE: Sony's Deteriorating DRM Mess: One Month Later (Dec. 1, 2005)
World of Warcraft hackers exploit Sony rootkit (thanks, ChairmanTubeAmp!)
Posted by: Kenzo (lastever.org / kenzodb.com) | November 03, 2005 at 04:53 PM
Thanks for the update Kenzo. It's nice to see the anit-DRM voice loud on the blog.
Posted by: Jeff T | November 03, 2005 at 05:21 PM
Hi,
You're a bit better off with a mac. I've had a mac since 1998 and I am unlikly ever to return to windows. I must say though that the new operating system OS X is not nearly as unlike windows and its problems as the older OS 9. I used to be able to drag and drop MP3 files into winamp and listen to my hearts content while using the computer for other things. Now I have little choice but to use itunes which basically has to run alone. Computer afficionados would be quit to tell me that "All you have to do is buy X, Y and Z and upgrade to QJK" and then 500 dollars later I can do all the stuff I was doing with my older slower iMac before. If my computer were a car I would take the bus.
Posted by: Bartelby | November 04, 2005 at 12:21 AM
Try the above link for one possible legal solution to this problem
Posted by: Bartleby | November 04, 2005 at 11:13 AM
Sorry here is the link: http://www.locksley.com/cthulhu/lawsuit.htm
Posted by: bartleby | November 04, 2005 at 11:14 AM
The Register writes:
However, Sony's decision to offer a 'patch' that fails to remove the DRM code suggests it isn't too concerned by the howls of outrage heard this week from sophisticated PC users.
And with this level of apathy, the music giants will be emboldened to try these techniques again. And again. And again.
(Full article)
Posted by: Kenzo (lastever.org / kenzodb.com) | November 04, 2005 at 01:46 PM
I bought a pack of "blank" Sony dvds. One did not work, I & am wondering if it installed something on my computer, and one had a hard- core (French or Italian) porno flick on it. Has this happened to anyone else? Is this legal????
Posted by: cmm | February 10, 2006 at 06:34 PM