Posted on 11/15/2005 8:00:43 AM PST by dickmc
Ramps up wholesale cost to UK e-tailers
Sony and other manufacturers have been accused of asking online retailers for 10-15 per cent more for wholesale electronic goods than they charge their traditional counterparts, The Times reports.
This "dual pricing" strategy - designed to narrow the price differential between net and high street - was allegedly initiated by Sony and quickly adopted by other suppliers. Big-name retail chains have exerted pressure on the CE giants at a time of falling high street sales in the face of cut-price internet offers.
Online retailers have naturally cried foul and will meet today .............
Sony has a specific interest in supporting its branded Sony Centres, of which there are around 100 in the UK. It has the clout to force the issue too, as one website's MD told The Times: "If you are seen to be a troublemaker it can have a detrimental effect on supplies.....................
The manufacturers' case was put this morning by Edward Whitefield of retail consultancy Management Horizons. He told the BBC's Today programme that this "variable pricing" strategy was designed to create a "more even playing field...........
According to Whitefield, the cost of distribution through the internet is about 20 per cent of sales, compared with 45 per cent of sales for a bricks-and-mortar store, and consumers have greatly benefited as a result of online operations. They'll continue to benefit, too, added Whitefield: "Even after this 10, 15 per cent, the internet price points will still be 15 to 20 per cent lower than comparable high street stores."
Asked if it was legal to charge different wholesale prices to different retailers, Whitefield asserted: "Yes it is,
(Excerpt) Read more at channelregister.co.uk ...
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Microsoft said it would remove controversial copy-protection software that CDs from music publisher Sony BMG install on personal computers, deeming it a security risk to PCs running on Windows.
The XCP program, developed by First4Internet in Britain and used on music CDs by Sony BMG to restrict copying and sharing, has generated concern amongst computer users, because it acts like virus software and hides deep inside a computer where it leaves the backdoor open for other viruses.
"We have analyzed this software and have determined that in order to help protect our customers, we will add a detection and removal signature for the rootkit component of the XCP software to the Windows AntiSpyware beta, which is currently used by millions of users," Jason Garms, group program manager of the Also:
"Microsoft to remove Sony BMG malware" Reuters
Anti-Malware Technology Team, said on Microsoft's Technet blog. (http://blogs.technet.com/antimalware/archive/2005/11/12/414299.aspx)
Microsoft will also use it in other anti-virus software.....
More at: http://today.reuters.com/news/NewsArticle.aspx?type=technologyNews&storyID=2005-11-15T104403Z_01_DIT538584_RTRUKOC_0_US-SONYBMG-MICROSOFT.xml
********************************************************************
Sony:
As someone put it elsewhere on the net: "They cut off their hand and put the blody stump in the water."
Now they seem to be stirring the water with the other hand with the two tier net pricing!!!!! Looks like they really don't like the net or anything on it. Some business plan.
Sony ping
A representative of the United States government last week warned entertainment publishers against using CD and DVD copy protection software that hides inside computers.
"It's very important to remember that it's your intellectual property; it's not your computer. And in the pursuit of protection of intellectual property, it's important not to defeat or undermine the security measures that people need to adopt in these days," said Stewart Baker, the assistant secretary the Department of Homeland Security, at a conference.
Interesting, when Homeland Security gets involved...
"Further down in the article:
A representative of the United States government last week warned entertainment publishers against using CD and DVD copy protection software that hides inside computers.
"It's very important to remember that it's your intellectual property; it's not your computer. And in the pursuit of protection of intellectual property, it's important not to defeat or undermine the security measures that people need to adopt in these days," said Stewart Baker, the assistant secretary the Department of Homeland Security, at a conference.
Interesting, when Homeland Security gets involved..."
This is because many of those home computers connected to the net over high speed connections could be turned into "Night of the Living Dead-"like zombies going after critical infrastructure systems.
Distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks are potentially much more destructive with the higher number of home computers connected with always-on cable or dsl. It only takes a small percentage of the total number of boxes, left unprotected, to create a powerful and destructive tool. Not suprising DHS is concerned.
Top sends
Windows reliabilty and stability compromised
"Microsoft is not removing XCP DRM software --
Microsoft plans to remove only the "rootkit component of the XCP software" that hides the XCP software."
"As I understand, here's what remains:
1) a driver filter that loads in front of the certified CD driver,
2) software that limits number of copies and copy format,
3) a "phone home" component that contacts a Sony server each time a "protected" CD is played.
Unhiding the Sony XCP software removes the security breach caused by the rootkit component,
but it also increases the possibility that naive users will disable their CD drives by removing the XCP software. "
Underlines are mine. Sounds like the situation isn't improved much other than more bad PR for Sony.
McAffee has a redirect link to the sony site that provides (supposedly) a removal tool for the XCD "malware."
After running the tool, XCD no longer shows up in a full system scan.
Not sure I believe them though </tinfoil beanie>
Top sends
You got it. It's all about control. COmputers and the internet have circumvented traditional music distribution networks that are, in my opinion, controlled tightly by the music industry. Their whole business plan seems to be based on an anology to monopolistic trade practices. Sony wants to decide who gets what and at what price. They do not want to be subjected to market prices where music becomes a commodity and priced according to market demand. It's like central planning, but by a company instead of a government.
Good questions. Personally, I choose to deny purchases from SONY/BMG.
QUOTE: "... the (SONY) technological protection measure (TPM) uninstall routine itself can be classified as spyware."
FROM: "Sony's Uninstall Tool Worse than the Problem" by JACK KAPICA
http://www.globetechnology.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20051111.gtsony1111/BNStory/Technology
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Sony? Baloney.
More information found here (this was my "first heard" on this problem).
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1513992/posts
Top sends
And now they've decided to join the hackers, spammers, script kiddies and other internet lowlifes by writing copy protection that leaves your PC wide open to any kind of malicious code that someone might want to corrupt your machine with. I hope they enjoy what they've done - I've bought my last Sony product, and I'm definitely not alone.
More than half a million networks, including military and government sites, were likely infected by copy restriction software distributed by Sony on a handful of its CDs, according to a statistical analysis of domain servers conducted by a well-respected security researcher and confirmed by independent experts on Tuesday.
Sony BMG has been on the run for almost two weeks with the public relations debacle of its XCP copy restriction software, which has installed an exploit-vulnerable rootkit with at least 20 popular music titles on PCs all over the world.
While the company has committed to withdrawing the CDs from production, and is said to be pulling them from the shelves, the biggest problem remaining for the company, and perhaps the internet as well, is how many Sony-compromised machines are still out there.
That's a number only Sony knows for sure -- and isn't releasing. One person, however, is getting closer to a global figure: Dan Kaminsky, an independent internet security researcher based in Seattle.
Using statistical sampling methods and a secret feature of XCP that notifies Sony when its CDs are placed in a computer, Kaminsky was able to trace evidence of infections in a sample that points to the probable existence of at least one compromised machine in roughly 568,200 networks worldwide. This does not reflect a tally of actual infections, however, and the real number could be much higher.
Sony did not respond to phone calls seeking comment.
Each installation of Sony's rootkit not only hides itself and rewrites systems drivers, it also communicates back out to Sony, and the creators of the software, British company First4internet and Phoenix-based Suncomm, who handled the Mac side for Sony.
Kaminsky discovered that each of these requests leaves a trace that he could follow and track through the internet's domain name service, or DNS. While this couldn't directly give him the number of computers compromised by Sony, it provided him the number and location (both on the net and in the physical world) of networks that contained compromised computers. That is a number guaranteed to be smaller than the total of machines running XCP ......
More is at Wired News here.
Any one for a fork and some popcorn?
Could someone from Utah send the Wired article to Orrin Hatch?
I just burned my Sony camera.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.