Sony, Rootkits and Digital Rights Management Gone Too Far

[rapier57]

Originally posted here by gore
And you're.... A guy in Depends from the looks of your pic in the BG thread

Nope, all systems functional.

[gore]

I pee my pants sometimes


Well, not really, but it seemed funny at the time.

[goblin]

see this site you can find some Thread about rootkit www.rootkit.com

[Aspman]

It's made the BBC website

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4400148.stm

[phishphreek]

The thing that may bug me the most out of all this is... Sony's program can help malware writers hide their code. World of Warcraft "hackers" are already doing this.

http://www.securityfocus.com/brief/34

What are the chances that users have purchased a CD and sony has already installed this rootkit on users PCs.

Even though Sony is releasing a patch to make the files visible (but not remove them), IMO, that is still not enough. They are acting as an enabler for malware writers to easily hide their malware.

I smell a class action suit in the works. Bring out the lawyers! They should have to pay fines to the users who have installed this malware on their PCs similar to what the RIAA has been getting.

The sad thing is... I KNOW I have it on ONE of my PCs. I bought a Leo Kottke and Mike Gordon CD this past August that had the said protected content. Though, when I first put it in my PC, I had the auto start disabled, so they rootkit wasn't automagically installed. I was able to grab a good copy of the files. I wasn't putting them on p2p or anything. I just wanted to put them on my mp3 player.

I then ran the autorun just to see what it did. Sure enough, I couldn't access the content using anything but their player. The songs would start to play, but then start skipping. I found no way to uninstall the program they installed on my PC.

The good copy I had grabbed before the rootkit was installed still played fine.

I say this is all BULLSHIT! I don't care what the EULA says. You can modify those (stored in a .txt file on the CDs) to stay whatever you want.

[phishphreek]

Originally posted here by rapier57
I just have to add this. I was working through the Washington State RCW and stumbled on this. It is codified in RCW 19.270. What Sony did with their "DRM" software is illegal in the State of Washington (USA). The damages section says you can recover actual damages or $100,000, whichever is greater. A judge is specifically given the authority to award up to three times the damages, plus costs and attorney fees.

Ya'll move to Washington, copy the Sony stuff on and then file a claim. Yeeehaaaaaw!

I just so happened to be visiting Washington State when I purchased the CD and installed the malware on my PC. Does that mean that the "crime" was committed in WA even though I don't live there?