Sony hit by lawsuits over root kit

The Register ^ | 10 November 2005 | John Oates

[ShadowAce]

Sony BMG is facing a class action suit from Californian consumers who claim the music giant's rootkit DRM technology damaged their computers and breaks three separate Californian laws.

The suit asks the court to stop Sony selling any more CDs containing the rootkit and seeks compensation for damage already done. Some Sony audio CDs include software which will secretly load itself if the CD is played on a computer. The suit was filed 1 November in the Los Angeles Superior Court by attorney Alan Himmelfarb, according to Reuters.

A second case has been started in New York on behalf of anyone who's bought one of the CDs.

Sony is also facing possible action from the Electronic Frontier Foundation in Italy - the lobby group has filed papers with the Italian authorities alleging Sony is guilty of "illicit acts".

The Electronic Frontier Foundation has also examined Sony's End User License Agreement which consumers now agree to when buying Sony CDs. Aside from letting Sony install any software they like on your computer it also covers what you can do with stored copies of the CD.

Any copies of the CD kept on a laptop or other device must be deleted if the original CD is stolen or lost. They cannot be stored on your work computer only a "personal home computer system owned by you". If you move countries you must delete all songs covered by the license. If you file for bankrupcy you must delete all relevant files.

Any consumer who fails to keep up-to-date with the hidden software is in breach of the agreement.

In exchange for all this the license also limits Sony BMG's liability for any damages this might cause to just $5 per CD - or slightly less than you paid for it in the first place.

Read the whole critique here.

A spokesman for Sony BMG in the UK guided us in the direction of New York HQ because CDs sold in the UK do not contain the rootkit. Sony BMG New York were unable to provide comment by press time. ®

[MineralMan]

"Many people like to create mp3/ogg files for use on their personal music player."

Ah, I see. Don't have one of those.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Wal Mart's photo processing does the same damned thing.

[balch3]

Tort Reform Now!

[Terpfen]

Those security features are for movies, not games. There won't be any dialing home while you're playing GT5.

[ShadowAce]

Are you saying that this lawsuit against Sony is BS?

[doc30]

How illegal is it for SOny to do this if you legally agree to it? I mean, you are agreeing ton the terms of the liscencing agreement whenyou open the package. It is a legally binding contract, isn't it?

Personally, I think that if a company wants you to agree to a contract, it should not be by the simple act of opening the package. THey should make you sit in a room with a lawyer, just like you would when you close on a house. No one would ever bother to buy theri CD's until such nonsense was stopped.

[balch3]

Looks frivolous to me. Sony has a right to safeguard its intellectual property from unauthorized use.

[tallhappy]

A root kit isn't meant to cause any damage.

Pirates use them to use someone's computer to hold files and a hard drive can fill up.

[ShadowAce]

Not by altering/invading/infecting my computer without advance notice and agreement.

[tallhappy]

Looks frivolous to me. Sony has a right to safeguard its intellectual property from unauthorized use.

No. You don't know what a root kit is.

Could they install a camera in a DVD player to spy on you to make sure there's no unauthorized use?

This is actually unbelievable that they would do this and very serious.

[ShadowAce]

you are agreeing ton the terms of the liscencing agreement whenyou open the package

No one knew this was going on, it was not listed in the agreement, and it was not being made known that this was occuring.

A geek was looking through his computer settings when he noticed it. Sony never mentioned it.

[BikerNYC]

Personally, I think that if a company wants you to agree to a contract, it should not be by the simple act of opening the package. THey should make you sit in a room with a lawyer, just like you would when you close on a house.

Sony's alleged "contract" or "licensing agreement" is really a contract of adhesion, which is a contract drafted by one party and offered on a take-it-or-leave-it basis or with little opportunity for the offeree to bargain or alter the provisions. Contracts of adhesion typically contain long boilerplate provisions in small type. Insurance policies are usually considered contracts of adhesion because they are drafted by the insurer and offered without the consumer being able to make material changes.

The courts have interpreted and enforced adhesion contracts differently from ordinary contracts-the provisions buried in the contract have been found to unexpectedly and often unconscionably limit the obligations and liability of the party drafting the contract. In some cases, such language has been offensive to the courts and not enforced.

[MarkL]

Hmm. Sitting on my desk, right above my monitor, is a music CD player. I cannot imagine why I'd put any music CD in my PC's drive.

I've got a bunch of ripped MP3s on my laptop computer's hard drive. BTW, all of those come from CDs that I've legally purchased.

Mark

[BJClinton]

Wal Mart's photo processing does the same damned thing.

Are talking about the pic CDs I get from them?

[steve-b]

Nope. The right to act in self-defense has always been limited by reasonable proportionality (e.g. I can't shoot you for taking a shortcut across a corner of my lawn) and does not in any way protect you from liability to third parties (e.g. they are liable for disabling people's computer security).

[Salo]

Ace, what happens to macs and linux boxes when you put sony cds in them? I use my imac to burn my cds to mp3 or make car copies all of the time.

[MilleniumBug]

Sony. No more Baloney!

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Yup. When you load this pup into your computer, you get a "gift" from Wal Mart on your drive.

[Tribune7]

This one time I'll be on the side of the lawyers.

[oceanview]

what does it do?