Sony on rootkit installation - "oops, you caught us!"
Sony is scrambling now that they've been caught installing rootkit spyware on systems that play their music CD's.
The firestorm began when Mark Russinovich, a computer security expert with Sysinternals, discovered evidence of a "rootkit" on his Windows PC. Through heroic forensic work, he traced the code to First 4 Internet, a British provider of copy-restriction technology that has a deal with Sony to put digital rights management on its CDs. It turns out Russinovich was infected with the software when he played the Sony BMG CD Get Right With the Man by the Van Zant brothers.
...
On Wednesday, Sony answered its critics by promising to issue a patch that allows antivirus software to pierce First 4 Internet's cloaking function. But in our view, the hacker and virus threat is something of a red herring. The harm of the Sony DRM scheme is not that it enables evildoers, but that Sony itself did evil.
Shorter Sony: "Oops, you caught us (damn). We promise to remove the evil software that we shouldn't have installed in the first place, and we'll be a lot more careful about covering our tracks in the future".
And the music industry wonders why people distrust them.
Comments
[Reinout Heeck] November 3, 2005 11:14:13.000
We promise to remove the evil software...
Note that Sony promises to *not* remove their rootkit installer, its just about adding a back door to it for AV software.
I don't see any backpedalling from the installation of rootkits, it still seems Sony takes that as it's granted right.
Lawsuit
[Daniel Berger] November 3, 2005 11:44:19.000
I smell a class action lawsuit. This is pure stupidity.
Don't buy Sony music
[ Terry] November 3, 2005 12:36:31.000
Comment by Terry
Now that you know you cannot play Sony music on your computer without it installing software, just don't buy sony music. I also read a recent article that some music labels are making changes to their CDs so you cannot rip the music into an iPod. If that is so, then I would not buy their music either.
Link to article re Sony patch not doing more than PR
[Kenzo] November 4, 2005 2:58:28.000
See Sony releases PR "patch" for its DRM malware that doesn't address the problems