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Sony halts production of 'rootkit' CDs
Cnet ^ | 11/11/2005 | Joris Evers

Posted on 11/11/2005 5:45:59 PM PST by Panerai

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1 posted on 11/11/2005 5:46:01 PM PST by Panerai
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To: Panerai

Scumbags - let's see them collect the bag of feathers they just threw to the wind.


2 posted on 11/11/2005 5:47:17 PM PST by Ben Chad
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To: Panerai

> ... as a precautionary measure, Sony BMG is temporarily suspending ...

But the real damage is already done ...
... not the cracker exploits tho ...
... the class-action lawsuits.

The sharksuits are in the water, and they smell blood.

Have any of the mainstream commercial anti-virus and/or
anti-spyware suppliers yet provided detection for the
Sone code that actually treats it like the malware it is?


3 posted on 11/11/2005 5:49:52 PM PST by Boundless
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To: Panerai

Just return Sony CDs as unplayable. Apparently they won't play without installing malwar on your computer.


4 posted on 11/11/2005 5:52:56 PM PST by js1138 (Great is the power of steady misrepresentation.)
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To: Panerai

Sony is scared and they should be.


5 posted on 11/11/2005 5:52:57 PM PST by Anti-Bubba182
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To: Boundless
I think they're trying to mitigate the impact of a class action lawsuit by saying 'we're acting in good faith', which is BS, since the the rootkit is malware to begin with.

What I haven't seen on these threads are the downloading is worse than nuclear war freaks defending the actions of Sony. I wonder why?

6 posted on 11/11/2005 5:56:45 PM PST by Tench_Coxe
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To: Tench_Coxe
What I haven't seen on these threads are the downloading is worse than nuclear war freaks defending the actions of Sony. I wonder why?

How about "You should buy CD's rather than downloading, because downloading might give you a virus?"

7 posted on 11/11/2005 5:59:22 PM PST by supercat (Don't fix blame--FIX THE PROBLEM.)
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To: Ben Chad

Sony's business model is based on 1940's technology... which isn't gonna work today.

They'd love to slap a $10 per blank CD / DVD on every one sold, like they did the DAT tapes.


8 posted on 11/11/2005 5:59:23 PM PST by TWohlford
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To: supercat
"How about "You should buy CD's rather than downloading, because downloading might give you a virus?""

lol

9 posted on 11/11/2005 6:06:12 PM PST by Tench_Coxe
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To: supercat
How about "You should buy CD's rather than downloading, because downloading might give you a virus?"

Am I mistaken in believing that a STOREBOUGHT protected CD will install the malware, not an MP3 rip? Never heard of an MP3 spreading a virus, as it is (afaik) an inert app.

APf

10 posted on 11/11/2005 6:21:45 PM PST by APFel (Loose ships sink lips.)
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To: TWohlford
They'd love to slap a $10 per blank CD / DVD on every one sold, like they did the DAT tapes.

There is a reason that the DAT format was never popular.

11 posted on 11/11/2005 6:32:17 PM PST by PAR35
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To: PAR35

"There is a reason that the DAT format was never popular."

The $10 per tape surcharge didn't help....


12 posted on 11/11/2005 6:33:39 PM PST by TWohlford
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To: APFel
Am I mistaken in believing that a STOREBOUGHT protected CD will install the malware, not an MP3 rip? Never heard of an MP3 spreading a virus, as it is (afaik) an inert app.

WMA's can certainly do bad things, and there may be some software which can be 'taken over' by a deliberately-malformed MP3 that causes a buffer overflow (BTW, how hard would it be for a C compiler NOT to store auto variables on the same stack as the execution pointer?) but there is no way that an MP3 which is structurally valid can install any sort of malware, and it is possible for software to analyze an MP3 and determine its validity.

13 posted on 11/11/2005 6:35:58 PM PST by supercat (Don't fix blame--FIX THE PROBLEM.)
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To: Tench_Coxe
"How about "You should buy CD's rather than downloading, because downloading might give you a virus?""

The problem is that by buying and using the CD as intended by Sony will open up your computer to a different sort of virus intrusion that AV software may NOT be able to detect or clean (as the files are hidden from the Windows file system APIs). You can only "see" those files from a command prompt. This is similar to the "super-hidden" attribute used by some strains of CodeRed and some others.

Mark

14 posted on 11/11/2005 6:38:01 PM PST by MarkL (I didn't get to where I am today by worrying about what I'd feel like tomorrow!)
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To: APFel
Am I mistaken in believing that a STOREBOUGHT protected CD will install the malware, not an MP3 rip?

That is correct.

Mark

15 posted on 11/11/2005 6:40:46 PM PST by MarkL (I didn't get to where I am today by worrying about what I'd feel like tomorrow!)
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To: MarkL
You can only "see" those files from a command prompt.

From what I've read, you can't even see them there.

16 posted on 11/11/2005 6:56:10 PM PST by supercat (Don't fix blame--FIX THE PROBLEM.)
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To: Tench_Coxe

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1519613/posts?page=27#27


17 posted on 11/11/2005 7:04:38 PM PST by One-Four-Five
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To: Ben Chad

Or putting shaving cream back in the can.


18 posted on 11/11/2005 7:07:46 PM PST by metmom (Welfare was never meant to be a career choice.)
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To: One-Four-Five

Unbelievable. That's like GM saying we have the right to disable your car if we think you haven't paid what we think you should be paying for it, even though you paid showroom price.


19 posted on 11/11/2005 7:12:29 PM PST by Tench_Coxe
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To: supercat
From what I've read, you can't even see them there.

I may be wrong, but I believe that you can see them with a "dir /a"

Mark

20 posted on 11/11/2005 7:16:02 PM PST by MarkL (I didn't get to where I am today by worrying about what I'd feel like tomorrow!)
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