Rick Rubin Discloses Sony Rootkit Called Home

caffeinemessiah writes "Rick Rubin, the legendary music producer, recently signed on as co-head of Columbia Records, which is owned by Sony BMG. In a recent New York Times interview (on pg. 4 of the online version), he discloses, possibly accidentally: 'It was the highest debut of Neil [Diamond]'s career, off to a great start. But Columbia — it was some kind of corporate thing — had put spyware on the CD. That kept people from copying it, but it also somehow recorded information about whoever bought the record...' Seems like the rootkit might have been a little more than your vanilla invade-your-rights-DRM scheme."

Next sony rootkit debacle...

[Darundal]

...Bravias have rootkits! Honestly, at this point, I think non-rootkit news about sony would be front page worthy. At this point, it is just expected.

oooh, data miner.

[Spy der Mann]

I guess this is their "We can't afford watermarking all the CD's music, but we'll steal the buyer's identity instead" solution.

Re:root kit?

[Anonymous Coward]

Although somewhat difficult to understand at first, I find that as an allegory for DRM, your story works quite well.

Re:A simpler solution

[Purity Of Essence]

I don't know, he might know plenty about systems. RJR and RMS are practically twins. [google.com]

Neil Diamond proposed this scheme decades ago

[Anonymous Coward]

Oh, one, touching one, reaching out
Touching me, touching you...

Won't affect anybody

[sunderland56]

The number of people who own a computer, are technically smart enough to listen to music on it, and who listen to Neil Diamond, is zero.

And yet

[obeythefist]

And yet Sony has walked away with less than a slap on the wrist.

Replace "Sony" with "Al Queda" or "North Korea" in the same story and see how it reads. Amusing, isn't it?

Re:A simpler solution

[jollyreaper]

Maybe it didn't phone home, and Rick Rubin (a music producer, not a computer geek) just doesn't understand what the root kit did.

Have you seen the way Rick Rubin looks? He could have easily fallen out of Richard Stallman's beard. When someone who looks like that tells me something, I listen. Or tell him I don't have any spare change; I guess it depends on what he says.

HOLY GOD!!!!!

[j00r0m4nc3r]

Now that Sony knows the true identities of all the Neil Diamond fans, they can now complete their deathstar and will be the ultimate power in the universe!

Re:Misleading Title

[shakestheclown]

sounds like multi player Microsoft Bob to me...

Re:root kit?

[EagleEye101]

well, at least he's creative........ right?.....

Re:Slashdot proves you're wrong.

[Anonymous Coward]

You could have boiled your entire spew down to four words:

"He's an ego-whore."

Re:Slashdot proves you're wrong.

[Grimbleton]

...who's Rick Rubin?

Re:And yet

[Scrameustache]

And yet Sony has walked away with less than a slap on the wrist.

Replace "Sony" with "Al Queda" or "North Korea" in the same story and see how it reads. Amusing, isn't it?

Now now, don't be silly. Al Quaeda and NK are nowhere near as powerful as Sony ;-)

Re: Falling out of Richard Stallman's Beard?

[TaoPhoenix]

Should we tell Rob Manuel so he can update Name That Beard?

http://www2.b3ta.com/namethatbeard/ [b3ta.com]

Everyone sing along now...

[Anonymous Coward]

Oh, one, touching one, reaching out
Touching me, touching you...

Sweeeeet Dee Arr Emm
Rootkit really got me good...
I'm too naive,
To think that Sony never would
Oh, no, no..

Re:Cue the inevitable...

[mwvdlee]

If you listen to Neil Diamond, you have something to hide.

Re:root kit?

[ookabooka]

Yeah I've seen that type of first post before. . .ah, here it is [slashdot.org] After the first few words I realize I should just stop reading. . .but it's just so damn ridiculous I have to keep reading to see where the madness will end. . .like I said before, it's the literary form of goatse; curiosity is a curse.

Re:Why are there no black moderators at Slashdot?

[Anonymous Coward]

Because replacing every instance of 'you' on the front page with "YO' CRACKA ASS" would cost a fortune in bandwidth. Add to that the cost of getting the /. office cafeteria to stock that much fried chicken and watermelon and you realise that black moderators would would bankrupt the company. That's if they didn't rob it first.