[steve-b]

As if they hadn't gotten themselves into enough legal hot water already....

[Paladin2]

Rut-roh. GE is going to be upset. Darn Pinko Commies did it again. We're doomed.

[FReepaholic]

Sony BMG pulls CD software

[PetroniusMaximus]

The hits just keep coming!!!!!

[AmericaUnited]

Software developers are losing billions and billions of dollars because large Music Companies are RIPPING OFF their software... :)

[supercat]

What exactly is the rational purpose behind including the rootkit on the CDs. I just don't get it.

If the CD's are constructed in such a way that normal techniques for ripping won't work, with or without the existence of the malware rootkit, then the rootkit would seem unnecessary "protection". And if the CD's are not so constructed, i.e. they can be ripped via conventional methods if the rootkit is not installed, then the rootkit would seem insufficient protection.

So what purpose, other than the harassment of paying customers, is the rootkit supposed to serve?

[elli1]

http://www.eff.org/news/archives/2005_11.php

Incomplete list of Sony CD's with secret rootkit software:

Trey Anastasio, Shine (Columbia)

Celine Dion, On ne Change Pas (Epic)

Neil Diamond, 12 Songs (Columbia)

Our Lady Peace, Healthy in Paranoid Times (Columbia)

Chris Botti, To Love Again (Columbia)

Van Zant, Get Right with the Man (Columbia)

Switchfoot, Nothing is Sound (Columbia)

The Coral, The Invisible Invasion (Columbia)

Acceptance, Phantoms (Columbia)

Susie Suh, Susie Suh (Epic)

Amerie, Touch (Columbia)

Life of Agony, Broken Valley (Epic)

Horace Silver Quintet, Silver's Blue (Epic Legacy)

Gerry Mulligan, Jeru (Columbia Legacy)

Dexter Gordon, Manhattan Symphonie (Columbia Legacy)

The Bad Plus, Suspicious Activity (Columbia)

The Dead 60s, The Dead 60s (Epic)

Dion, The Essential Dion (Columbia Legacy)

Natasha Bedingfield, Unwritten (Epic)

This is not a complete list and Sony-BMG continues to refuse to make such a list available to consumers. Consumers can spot CDs with XCP by inspecting a CD closely, checking the left transparent spine on the front of the case for a label that says "CONTENT PROTECTED." The back of these CDs also mention XCP in fine print. You can find pictures of these and other telltale labeling at http://www.eff.org/IP/DRM/Sony-BMG/.

[elli1]

To find record labels owned by Sony, visit this site:

http://www.bl.uk/collections/sound-archive/record.html

Click on both of these links: 'Sony Music' and 'BMG'

For instance, both 'Columbia' and 'Epic' are Sony-owned.

[SauronOfMordor]

Good discussion of the rootkit here

Interesting quote: I've never [before] seen an industry that criminalizes its own consumers to the extent that consumers would rather steal from them than pay for the product