Bad Day To Be Sony 812
Not only is Sony no longer selling the RootKit CDs, Arend writes "According to a USAToday article, Sony is to pull their controversial rootkit CDs from store shelves." A nice gesture, but a little late. bos writes "Sony's DRM rootkit has been found by Dan Kaminsky to have infected at least half a million networks, according to an article by Quinn Norton for Wired News. Dan has even put together some pretty pictures of the breadth of the infection." With so many people infected, it's unfortunate that wiredog writes "From The Washington Post comes the news that serious security flaws have been found in the software that Sony is distributing to users who want to remove the Sony rootkit. The article says: 'Because of the way the tool is configured ... it allows any Web page that the user subsequently visits to download, install and run any code that it likes.'" Oops. Even Microsoft is getting into the act. ares284 writes "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."
How to boycott? (Score:5, Interesting)
How do those who are active boycotters stick to it? Do you actively pursue telling others, or is it just a "one person, one dollar, one vote" kind of life lead?
I could care less if other people want to support Sony artists or Sony products. All mercantilistic (using government to acquire wealth) corporations are bad, but that doesn't mean that every business is bad. Sony has actually been one of the least mercantilistic corporation I've tracked over the years, but their releasing of items without proper quality control is what kills them time and again.
And I believe that is the problem with this rootkit. Sony didn't test it properly. If they had tested it properly and kept it within its own little world on a customer's PC, I don't think the fallout would have been so excessive. They didn't test the product, they relied on the customers to do so. Luckily for Sony, the customers weren't happy and were vocal about it.
That is the free market at work. People unhappy about a company or a product have much more of a voice with the web being so readily available. The more the Internet allows billions of citizens to align on different issues, the more we'll see that a free market "democracy" is better than a democracy built around the use of force.
Vote with your dollars.
Re:How to boycott? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:How to boycott? (Score:5, Insightful)
Criminal charges against Microsoft too. (Score:5, Interesting)
That's a clear DMCA violation.
If DVD John gets in trouble for less, surely whomever at Microsoft decided to do this should suffer the same.
Excellent (Score:5, Insightful)
Blockquoth the AC:
Let's hope so. With a bit of luck, this case will demonstrate the idiocy of both draconian copy protection mechanisms and draconian anti-copying laws. If it becomes Sony vs. Microsoft, there will be a big, high profile case with both sides sending zillions of lawyers at each other and zillions of lobbyists at the government, ultimately with no winning option for either side since any outcome will hurt their corporate interests in the longer term even as it protects them in the short term. The government can't suck up to both parties forever, and public opinion is bound to sway against things like the DMCA, DRM, and so on the longer it goes on.
Don't expect a DMCA case (Score:5, Insightful)
New sig:
--
Days since my last Sony purchase: 602
Re:Excellent (Score:4, Insightful)
I believe you underestimate the federal government.
Re:Criminal charges against Microsoft too. (Score:5, Informative)
Still, it's a great idea, and your perverted thoughts make me like you. :-)
Re:Criminal charges against Microsoft too. (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:How to boycott? (Score:5, Informative)
Two years ago I stopped buying Belkin [theregister.co.uk] products after their routers started redirecting port 80 queries to their own adservers. Can't say that I miss 'em.
Phone Sony about the problem (Score:5, Informative)
According to the feedback page [sonymusic.net] for Sony USA, you should call their Quality Management Department at 800-255-7514 (609-722-8224 in New Jersey) "if you believe a Sony Music product has a manufacturing defect".
I would seem reasonable to give them the courtesy of doing what they ask for, and phone them before doing anything else.
Re:Phone Sony about the problem (Score:5, Funny)
According to the feedback page for Sony USA, you should call their Quality Management Department at 800-255-7514 (609-722-8224 in New Jersey) "if you believe a Sony Music product has a manufacturing defect". I would seem reasonable to give them the courtesy of doing what they ask for, and phone them before doing anything else.
Yes, please call them.
Several times.
Per day.
Each.
:)
Re:Phone Sony about the problem (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Phone Sony about the problem (Score:5, Insightful)
I don't think it will help a whole lot if the DOJ gets 100,000 emails that all look like typical /. posts.
Re:How to boycott? (Score:5, Informative)
Sony's End User License Agreement requires the following things of all consumers who purchase this "content protected" music:
1. If your house gets burgled, you have to delete all your music from your laptop when you get home. That's because the EULA says that your rights to any copies terminate as soon as you no longer possess the original CD.
2. You can't keep your music on any computers at work. The EULA only gives you the right to put copies on a "personal home computer system owned by you."
3. If you move out of the country, you have to delete all your music. The EULA specifically forbids "export" outside the country where you reside.
4. You must install any and all updates, or else lose the music on your computer. The EULA immediately terminates if you fail to install any update. No more holding out on those hobble-ware downgrades masquerading as updates.
5. Sony-BMG can install and use backdoors in the copy protection software or media player to "enforce their rights" against you, at any time, without notice. And Sony-BMG disclaims any liability if this "self help" crashes your computer, exposes you to security risks, or any other harm.
6. The EULA says Sony-BMG will never be liable to you for more than $5.00. That's right, no matter what happens, you can't even get back what you paid for the CD.
7. If you file for bankruptcy, you have to delete all the music on your computer. Seriously.
8. You have no right to transfer the music on your computer, even along with the original CD.
9. Forget about using the music as a soundtrack for your latest family photo slideshow, or mash-ups, or sampling. The EULA forbids changing, altering, or make derivative works from the music on your computer.
Refer to the following for details:
- List of Affected CDs [eff.org]
- EULA analysis [eff.org]
- Rootkit analysis [sysinternals.com]
- Continued rootkit analysis [sysinternals.com]
(From a Brendan Ribera, Amazon Post)Italian criminal probe requested (Score:5, Informative)
"The complaint alleges that XCP violates a number of Italy's computer security laws by causing damage to users' systems and by acting in the same way as malicious software, according to Andrea Monti, chairman of the ALCEI-EFI. "What Sony did qualifies as a criminal offense under Italian law," he said in an e-mail interview.
Should police determine that a crime has been committed, prosecutors will be required to begin criminal proceedings against Sony, Monti said."
Sony has declined to comment.
From:
http://www.computerworld.com/securitytopics/secur
Re:How to boycott? (Score:5, Funny)
I don't have enough of them to matter.
Re:How to boycott? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:How to boycott? (Score:5, Insightful)
buy second hand? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:buy second hand? (Score:4, Interesting)
Personally I buy as straight from the artist as I can.
Buy your music from allofmp3.com, then send an envelope with three or four dollars in it to the band. Join the fan club or whatever. Can there be a better way? Look at all of the benefits:
Really, the only downside is the possibility that you're supporting criminals in Russia. But the other alternatives are supporting criminals in LA, or not buying music at all. And the Russian criminals in question seem to be very fair businessmen. I was impressed to see that when they tell you you're paying two cents per MB, they in fact charge you exactly $.02 for every 1,048,576 (2^20) bytes, and they calculate it to the tenth of a penny and don't deduct it until you've successfully completed the download.
Re:How to boycott? Website (Score:5, Informative)
I've been including information I think is important about the Sony case on my blog too since the story broke, but other sites have much more detail. I just try to break it down so the average joe knows what's going on if their brain turns off at acronyms like DRM.
Re:How to boycott? (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:artists properly compensated? (Score:5, Insightful)
However, with the advent of internet-based human networking (IM, blogs, etc.), this is starting to change. You still can't get the old airplay and venues, but it is now affordable to distribute your music over the internet, using word of mouth to increase demand. Similarly, you might not be able to book the good venues, but with blogs etc., people can find the alternative venues that don't get ad-time in newspapers, on the radio, or on TV.
So in summary, artists often are victims, but with the new technologies of the last 10 years, more and more artists are able to emancipate themselves and survive.
How about Criminal Charges. (Score:5, Interesting)
Seriously - if some company hires a hitman to do illegal stuff they get in trouble. Why can Sony hack my network without any repercusions.
Re:How to boycott? (Score:5, Interesting)
I had a Sony cell phone (This was when cell phones were first starting to come out, and were about the size of a brick). It was several hundred dollars. I went through 7 of them before the warranty expired, and I finally replaced it with another brand. I had a laser disc player whose drive motor kept dying. I had a boom box whose tape drive never worked right, even after sending it in for work several times. Then I had a Sony AV receiver, that one day decided not to turn on, unless you picked it up a few inches and dropped it. After that string of bad products, that Sony wouldn't stand behind, it was easy for me to stop buying their crap.
I don't actively try to dissuade people from buying Sony stuff, but if asked my opinion, I will gladly tell people about my experience with them.
Re:How to boycott? (Score:5, Insightful)
If you actively pursue telling others you'll just annoy them and get labeled as a wacko. So it's pretty much up to you and your money. If the opportunity presents itself to discuss the topic without having to stretch for relevance (e.g. -- a friend/colleage/random stranger complains about a CD not working on their computer or something), then go for it. Otherwise keep to yourself. The only real exception here is demonstrations -- if you can get a reasonable number of people together then you don't look like quite such a loon; instead you look like a group of loons. But at least then you're in a flock.
As for boycotting Sony specifically -- first, write them a note telling them why you're boycotting and what they need to do to end your boycott. The second part is extremely important -- if you don't give them a method to regain your money, then why should they even bother? And in that vein, it has to be reasonable. I don't expect Sony to never issue non-CDs with DRM. I do expect them to never use this piece of crap again and to fire/relieve from their existing duties any managers that were involved in the approval of XCD.
Second, try to make sure you don't give them any money. If you want to be strict about it, then only punish Sony-BMG Music. That means no buying CDs from them. If you want to be more liberal then don't buy anything from any Sony division -- no CDs, no DVDs, no movies, no electronics (including PS2 and so forth), nothing whatsoever directly associated with the company. If you want to be even more liberal then don't buy anything that will funnel money to the company -- all PS2 games are licensed, so none of them. Similarly, many movies may use music that's owned by Sony, so start checking those music credits first! And if you want to be a complete whacko then avoid any thing that funnels money to them through cross-licensing, partnerships, and so forth. Given how big Sony is, if you take this route then I suggest you sit quietly in an open field and hope they break before you die of dehydration or starvation (pray for rain and small, harmless furry animals to wander nearby).
At least send the letter and try to stick to your boycott, at whatever level you choose. They've already done a lot more than I expected by recalling the defective CDs. Now they need to post a public apology (from a Japanese company that's a big deal), post a non-ActiveX method on their website to completely and utterly remove the DRM (and the decloaking junk), and appropriately punish the management involved in this cock-up. That would make me happy at least.
Re:How to boycott? (Score:5, Funny)
Dear Sony,
I am boycotting all Sony products until the following demands have been met.
Thank you for your time.
Re:How to boycott? (Score:5, Insightful)
JOhn
Re:How to boycott? (Score:5, Insightful)
I recall that a certain popular tax preparation software (TurboTax, that's it!) got into hot water when, in the effort to curb piracy, they started mucking with the customer's boot sector, or some such. (Couple years back.) They ended up retracting their software naughtiness, and doing a profound mea culpa.
Anyhow, will these companies ever learn that the bad press from borking their customers' computers, will cost them much more than piracy ever will? Sure, they see piracy as a problem to be met with DRM, but they're losing all perspective. Their DRM hammer is leaving holes in the wall.
Good will is a commodity which is built up slowly over many years, and can be lost overnight.
Re:How to boycott? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:[OT] Re:How to boycott? (Score:3, Informative)
This is very prevalent at places like computer shows where they quote cash prices and charge a percentage extra to cover credit cards - American Express will almost always cost you more to use than a Visa or MasterCard in such a situation.
To me, not taking American Express is a way of saying "we're doing everything we can to keep our prices as low as possible and
Re:[OT] Re:How to boycott? (Score:3, Insightful)
Because American Express rewards their customers by charging much higher merchant fees than their competition.
1 2-22-amex_x.htm [usatoday.com]
http://www.usatoday.com/money/perfi/general/2004-
Re:How to boycott? (Score:5, Funny)
I've noticed this phenomenon too. Because there's no involvement with any facial muscle groups other than the lips, people have trouble interpreting the expression.
In this case, I assume folks are using cultural expectations of the behaviors of spokespuppets in TV commercials to resolve the lack of direct evidence and essentially assuming the grey-haired chap in the Menards' commercials is smiling.
But I've figured out the truth. It's not a smile, it's a predatory tooth-baring snarl.
Which is why the Menards' guy scares the bejeebus out of me. That, and how he's always going on about my nards. You leave my nards out of it, dammit.
Re:How to boycott? (Score:3, Insightful)
Yes, there is something wrong with businesses that need the government in order to make profit. It's wrong because it goes against the nature of free markets. Have you heard of corporate welfare? If a business cannot make the profits necessary, then it should either change its business plan or die, and not have taxpayers pay to keep it alive. There is a h
Re:[OT] Re:How to boycott? mercantilism (Score:5, Insightful)
Am I the only one who saw that as a disturbing statement? You spend 40 hours a week, which amounts to having a second job (I'm assuming that you're employed based on your previous statements) reinforcing your own point of view. I've met religious fanatics who don't spend that much time reading their religious scripture. Literally, you claim to be spending more time with whatever literature supports your views than a fundie does with a bible.
First off, if you wanted an informed opinion, wouldn't reading the opposition make more sense? If I want to know the full story about something, I find info from both sides, I don't just take the side I agree with as automatically infallable. Second, why the need to "reinforce" those things you already beleive? Sounds a bit too much like brainwashing for me - certainly if someone else was shoving their point of view down your throat that's the word I would use.
Re:How to boycott? (Score:5, Funny)
Wouldn't that be the world's grammar?
-pf
What will work (Score:5, Insightful)
So what will work:
Litigation. That's a great start because it costs them money they can count (legal fees) instead of four people not buying some Sony product. It looks like this might end up costing them big.
Harrass customer service. It is not as effective but if a lot of people start consuming customer service with calls, again this costs them a measureable amount of money and also makes the VP in charge of customer service very angry. You want angry people at the same level in the company as the ones who are putting in things like the rootkit.
The main goal in all this should be to try and make a public example of Sony so that other companies do not do the same thing, and Sony themselves will not want to try again for quite some time.
Re:What will work (Score:5, Informative)
I work for a company that writes software for call centers. Customer support calls cost an average of $3-$30 per call for a company. Lots of upset customers add up quickly.
Re:[OT] Re:How to boycott? (Score:5, Insightful)
Capitalism as an economic theory has its attributes and flaws, but capitalism as a religion is the worst thing ever foisted upon humankind. If you let "do as thou willst be the whole of the law" in business, you give businessmen a license to rob and loot. Guess what. They will use it. Bowing before golden calves called "competition" and "the markets" is all anarcho-captalism is, and libertarianism is basically the same.
Ouch (Score:4, Funny)
PS3? No thanks, Sony; you screwed the pooch (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:PS3? No thanks, Sony; you screwed the pooch (Score:4, Interesting)
So the same people who make decisions for the music products are not the same people who make decisions at the playstation divisions .
From what I hear, there is some pretty intense inside fighting going on between the people who make mop3 players, and the music division.
Re:PS3? No thanks, Sony; you screwed the pooch (Score:5, Insightful)
They're associated well enough to have the name "SONY" branded on them. Good enough for me.
Re:PS3? No thanks, Sony; you screwed the pooch (Score:5, Funny)
Ah yes, broad generalization and stubborn ignorance, that'll solve the problem. Isn't that why they want DRM in the first place?
Re:PS3? No thanks, Sony; you screwed the pooch (Score:4, Insightful)
They want to make money on the Sony name, period. If there's going to be a consumer response, then the response should show the industry just what that "SONY" nameplate is worth.
Re:PS3? No thanks, Sony; you screwed the pooch (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:PS3? No thanks, Sony; you screwed the pooch (Score:4, Interesting)
That tells me that the only way to increase shareholder value is to break Sony into at least two companies: the entertainment division and the electronics division. Each division will then float on its own merits without impeding the other.
In a nutshell, we can add Sony's own *shareholders* to the list of people that are getting screwed by the management. My prediction? Look for a shareholder suit against the Board of Directors within 3 years to break Sony into two companies.
Quite the reverse (Score:5, Insightful)
That sounds to me like more reason to boycott, not less - the impact is not compartmentalised, but spreads across their entire business. It also gives ammunition to those on the inside who are fighting against the shenanigans. Sony need to get the message that their actions don't just do damage to their CD sales business, they also create a serious dent in the Sony "brand" as a whole.
Re:PS3? No thanks, Sony; you screwed the pooch (Score:4, Interesting)
Bitter? Why yes I am, thank you for asking.
I worked project support for a great team of engineers who had some amazing ideas way ahead of their time. Can they use PS2 hardware? Write DVD related software? Other video related stuff? Nope. All because of inter-division competition. (I was intentionally vague on the those project descriptions) Then there's the snobby attitude towards software; once a project I worked on was forced to use a very expensive piece of hardware to do something they were already doing in software. Quelle Suprise, Sony couldn't sell the software and eventually the project was canned.
I really can't believe Sony has survived into the 21st century.
Re:PS3? No thanks, Sony; you screwed the pooch (Score:5, Interesting)
I would like to point out that at Sony's size, the different divisions have little or nothing to do with each other.
Irrelevant.
Not that the people working in the other divisions, who didn't make such stupid decisions, deserve to be punished, but the way to stop companies from doing crap like this is to hit them where it will hurt the top-level decisionmakers: their stock price. To do that, you have to damage their profits, and the best way to do *that* is to decrease their revenues by not buying their stuff. If Sony's stock takes a 20% drop as a result of some decisions by the entertainment division, the C-level execs will take action, and if they don't then the board of directors will, and if *they* don't, the stockholders will. If it gets nasty enough, no one in Sony will ever again dare to do something that has even the remotest possibility of bringing that sort of shitstorm down on their heads.
Not that I believe a lot of "boycott Sony" shouting and posturing on slashdot will really affect their revenues noticeably, much less their stock price. But still, the theory is sound, even if follow-through is insufficiently widespread to make any difference.
Thank god for Sony (Score:5, Insightful)
Let us hope that people find out about DRMs before they saturate the market any further.
Re:Thank god for Sony (Score:3, Insightful)
And if for nothing else this has been very funny to watch the problems snow ball for Sony.
I sincerely apologize for this... (Score:5, Funny)
Now look at the mess you're in, Sony. (Score:3, Insightful)
The natives are restless.. (Score:5, Informative)
Read the comments for this protected disc by Van Zant on the Sony label [amazon.com].
,br>OUCH.
Re:The natives are restless.. (Score:4, Funny)
Not just Van Zants (Score:4, Interesting)
I wonder if the backlash will be enough for all artists to do what the Flecktones did:
"Frustrated when he bought a copy-protected Dave Matthews release and couldn't copy it to his Apple iPod, Fleck insisted that Sony not release his new album with such restrictions"
Looks like they crossed the threshold... (Score:5, Insightful)
"Paging Eliot Spitzer [wikipedia.org], Paging Eliot Spitzer, Mr. Spitzer white courtesy phone..."
Re:Looks like they crossed the threshold... (Score:5, Interesting)
To me the biggest surprise in this saga is that he hasn't been all over this.
Nooooo! (Score:4, Funny)
Vulnerability (Score:5, Insightful)
The question is, will they get punished for this by the authorities? The FBI and police seem to be happy to jail writers of virii or worms or those who spread vulnerabilities to unsuspecting systems. Why shouldn't the product manager responsible for this pay for his crime of making the nations computers even more insecure?
Considering the rootkit is installed without owners realistically being aware, doesn't that make it equivalent to a form of worm, virus, or other type of nasty?
I seriously believe that someone should be doing jail time for this. Such a punishment would make any other malfeasants think twice before thinking that they don't have to obey the law.
Get 'em good (Score:4, Interesting)
Where it asks for the Artists name type in some diatribe
Where it asks for the Album Title, type in more diatribe
Where it asks for Store Name, type in yet even more diatribe
Where it asks for email address try something that will cause them trouble such as uce@ftc.gov or some chronic antispammer advocate.
This will hopefully force Sony to make the "patch directly downloadable."
Perhaps the copyright owners could offer to settle: have Sony repay all of the people who have been extorted for money because of filesharing (double for damages), and promise to stop all such activities in the future. That would only run them about $100 million, so it would be quite a deal.
Boycott Big Music (Score:5, Insightful)
Today's article of LWN.net about Sony (Score:3, Informative)
FBI? NSA? Homeland Security? (Score:5, Insightful)
If this had been an individual, or small business, you know they would already be behind bars awaiting trial for violating some law or another... possibly even being brought up on some sort of national security-related charges.
( Someone in a secure/top secret/classified government network has probably stuck one of these CDs into their machine at some point.)
I want to know why the Feds aren't treating Sony like they would anyone else
Re:FBI? NSA? Homeland Security? (Score:5, Insightful)
By associating it with democracy, though, that makes it all better. We're all supposed to be happy that corporate profits supersede individual rights and property.
Re:FBI? NSA? Homeland Security? (Score:3, Informative)
Two words: campaign contributions [opensecrets.org].
Re:FBI? NSA? Homeland Security? BullSh*** (Score:5, Insightful)
All I can say is I am in the know with regard to such matters and you are so amazingly wrong it is unbelieveable. There may be EXTREMELY isolated cases of such Machiavellian security measures, but it has been my experience that music CDs are always making it into secured areas and being played on secure machines.
Re:FBI? NSA? Homeland Security? BullSh*** (Score:4, Interesting)
This guy is NOT a troll. He is far more correct than the GP is.
Confidential, Secret, Top Secret, SAR, Intel, etc. (Score:4, Interesting)
It's been over ten years since i've been in that business, but i'd be seriously surprised if there were locally mountable devices, or even ports (USB, etc) on TS machines. We had no floppy drives and removable hard drives in our Secret machines, plus they were all tempest hardened, plus in lockable cabinets (those who know, know what i mean). We only had a few areas where we could even work on TS docs, much less create them from scratch. Having a CD drive (even read only) seems like something a security officer would have jumped on as a "duh" very early on in any project. If you needed a CD it would be mounted as a share to a server in the "vault" and you would be granted access to it for the time you needed it. No personal electrical devices were allowed in any way, shape, or form so no radios, CD players, etc.
I suppose if a contractor was lax this could all take place, someone could use the document blender to make margaritas, but in my experience there was no way to just pop in some disk or attach a device. I mean we didn't even have printers! They were locked up in the vault also and you had to sign for the number of pages you printed! This was just a SECRET rated facility (o.k., Secret with SAR, I'll give you that much). So be realistic. I could take CDs in all day long but they were only good as drink coasters.
That's because one (or maybe more)of them is lying (Score:4, Interesting)
However, for every person on here who legitmately knwos what they are talking about, you have someone who's just making shit up. They want to appear "in the know" and believe they really know how it is, because they heard a story somewhere or something like that. However in the retelling, they pretend like it was them, because of course it makes them seem to be more knowledgable on the topic.
I've had lots of people tell me how things work in regards to secret data, however most of the people doing the telling, I know for a fact have never worked in such a facility. So what they are saying may be based entirely on fiction.
As always, take what you hear on Slashdot with a grain of salt.
Boycotting Sony is a great idea... (Score:5, Funny)
They are still being weasels... (Score:4, Interesting)
What a shame that Scott Adams' "Weasel Awards" [dilbert.com] for 2005 have already been awarded. There's always 2006 I suppose, but this will probably have been long since done and dusted by then... unless it's still churning though legal systems in the US and elsewhere of course.
No Refund (Score:5, Informative)
Re:No Refund (Score:4, Informative)
strings -n 5 Update071105.exe |more
1.2.1
deflate 1.2.1 Copyright 1995-2003 Jean-loup Gailly
Then I went and took a look at the zlib site http://www.zlib.net/ [zlib.net]
"zlib 1.2.3
July 18, 2005
Version 1.2.3 eliminates potential security vulnerabilities in zlib 1.2.1 and 1.2.2, so all users of those versions should upgrade immediately."
Sounds like Sony needs to trot back and have a whole nother look at those "security concerns"
Silver Lining (Score:3, Interesting)
This Sony incident could help convince consumers and businesses alike that intrusive DRM is a bad idea.
Isn't there a word ... (Score:5, Interesting)
Which makes me wonder what Sony's got coming next.
Re:Isn't there a word ... (Score:5, Interesting)
As a second example, according to Daniel Kahneman if an audience is asked firstly to memorise the last 4 digits of their social security number and then to estimate the number of physicians in New York the correlation between the two numbers is around 0.4--far beyond what would be expected by chance. The simple act of thinking of the first number strongly influences the second, even though there is no logical connection between them.
Basically, people often don't have any absolute framework for judging what is reasonable in a particular situation, so their mind subconsciously focuses or anchors on the first number they see, even if there is no rational basis or relationship between the number presented and the judgment call being asked for.
Oops. (Score:3, Funny)
I vote we do (Score:5, Funny)
Disclaimer: In case those lawyers from Sony is not being work to death right now from all those demage lawsuit- I am joking.
Wow (Score:5, Insightful)
They actually got the Department of Homeland Security to denounce them. I knew it had to be good for something
The great thing about all of this is that now that the Feds are aware of this evil DRM bullshit, they will start regulating it a little better. As it stands now, the DMCA basically give all the media companies "carte blanche" with regards to copy-protection schemes.
not a pooch, much bigger (Score:5, Funny)
Joe Random, hacker .. (Score:3, Funny)
rootkit.. bad
microsoft.. good
hacker.. head explodes
Buying CDs is unsafe... (Score:5, Funny)
To kill DRM, make Joe Consumer Mad... (Score:5, Insightful)
Go Sony! Do it again!
Was the construction of this software illegal? (Score:4, Interesting)
Where the hell were the anti-malware vendors? (Score:5, Interesting)
This is what really disturbs me. Not "What was Sony thinking?" -- businesses can be really stupid. Not "How could they do this?" -- businesses can be really evil. Shit happens. Get over it. Bad security happens, whatever.
However, I did have some trust (not much, but some) for the anti-malware establishment. I'm in infosec; I believe that even in the biggest and stupidest infosec company, there will be people with the hackerish instincts (i.e. lower-than-average sense of self-preservation) to blow the whistle. However, the failure of all the big anti-whatever companies to notice and/or do anything about this, with full year of lead time, demonstrates that they are incompetent at best, unethical at worst.
I don't care, personally; I use a Mac. It's not a security panacea but it's a pretty darn good line of defense. Professionally, however, I feel downright ill.
Kudos to F-Secure and Sysinternals. Where the hell were the rest of them?
Way to shoot yourself in the foot, Sony! (Score:5, Insightful)
For whatever reason, I buy one of your CD's, pay the $18 CAD or thereabouts for a new release. But this is the computer age, I don't even own a stereo, so I want to play the CD on my computer.
The first thing I notice is that the CD is DRM-ed to death so it's a pain in the ass to convert the songs to MP3 format; so much for listening to the music that I've bought on my iPod. (If I live in Canada, I may have also paid for this music twice, once through the purchase of the CD, and a second time through the levy on my iPod as "blank media".) Oh yeah, and for some reason, neither iTunes nor Winamp will play the CD.
The second thing I notice (because who really reads the EULA?) while researching how to crack the DRM, is that, among other things, if my house is burgled I will have to delete all the mp3's from this disc. (Because, you know, a burglar would spend all that time copying the MP3's from my hard drive instead of stealing the whole damn computer. And man, if I own a laptop, they're just going to leave it on the desk and take my crappy TV instead...) Also, if I don't update the software whenever it prompts me to, I will lose all access to the music that I have purchased. And I can't listen to the music on a work computer, nor can I re-sell the CD that I have just purchased. WTF?
But then my system crashes, and some virus I can't get rid of keeps me from accessing all the data on my hard drives that I haven't backed up in ages (of course). And how did this virus get on my system? Through a root kit that the Sony CD installed without even telling me it was doing so, thank you very much.
Alright, Sony, now you've shot yourself in the foot. You've basically persuaded millions of CD buyers out there (you know, the people who were actually paying for your product?) that it's easier, safer, and plain old less annoying to yoink MP3's from thier favorite website or file-sharing program.
Way to go.
(Idiots.)
The most bizarre aspect to this story... (Score:5, Interesting)
Bob Brookmeyer - Bob Brookmeyer & Friends
Horace Silver - Silver?s Blue
Dexter Gordon - Manhattan Symphonie
Ahmed Jamal - The Legendary Okeh and Epic Recordings
Bob Brookmeyer???? Was Sony afraid of the cadre of L33t h4xx0r d00dz pirating their catalog of elderly jazz trombonists?
Has anyone filed a criminal complaint yet? (Score:5, Informative)
Jennifer Granick, executive director of Stanford University's Center for Internet and Society, sees this as a question of how well written their EULA is, a topic of much conversation in the media lately.
But either way, she noted over IM, "if the EULA did not advise the user that s/he was installing software on the machine that would collect information and/or open the machine to vulnerabilities, then the software arguably violates 18 usc 1030(a)(5)(A)." That's a criminal charge. But Granick doesn't see criminal prosecution of Sony anytime soon.
"The (Department of Justice) is not going to charge Sony.... They have never charged a big corporation with a computer crime."
In order to invoke 18 USC 1030, you have to show $5,000 in damages or damage to a computer system used by or for a government entity in furtherance of the administration of justice, national defense or national security. That's another interesting point of Kaminsky's work, because it shows networks that are part of national security and civil infrastructure faithfully reporting their existance back to Sony, along with as yet unknown information about the compromised computers.
Sony CEO didn't support Bush in 2004 (Score:5, Informative)
So Sony is in real trouble. Watch this turn into a criminal case.
About that uninstaller (Score:5, Informative)
Feel free to go over there and try it yourself. If you install the ActiveX you can remove it in Tools, Internet Options, Settings, View Objects, "CodeSupport Control". Here's what they send you:
From: contentprotectionhelp
Sent: Monday, November 14, 2005 04:22 AM
To: sony-bmg-sucks@invalid.com
Subject: Re: ContentProtectionHelp Email Form
Thank you for contacting Sony BMG Online.
Sony BMG and First 4 Internet have released a Service Pack 2a update that addresses recent concerns surrounding the cloaking technology component on SONY BMG content protected CDs which use XCP technology. These components are not malicious nor spyware however to alleviate any concerns that users may have about the program posing potential security vulnerabilities the update removes the cloaking component from their computers. Please visit the link below to install the SP2a update.
http://updates.xcp-aurora.com/ [xcp-aurora.com]
If you do not want to install the SP2a update and only wish to uninstall the DRM software, visit the form below using IE 5.0 (or higher) from the computer where the software is installed. After submission, you will be emailed a customized uninstall link within 1 business day (M-F).
http://cp.sonybmg.com/xcp/english/form9.html [sonybmg.com]
Your "Case ID" is: 9999999.
TIP: The uninstall request form will require an ActiveX plug-in.
Also you may need to temporarily turn off any pop-up blocker
software on the PC.
Thank you for the opportunity to be of assistance.
The Sony BMG Online Support Team
FKSZ
This message and any attachments are solely for the use of intended recipients. They may contain privileged and/or confidential information. If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that you received this email in error, and that any review, dissemination, distribution or copying of this email and any attachment is strictly prohibited. If you receive this email in error please contact the sender and delete the message and any attachments associated therewith from your computer. Your cooperation in this matter is appreciated.
- - - - -
Sony also accused of price-fixing in Britain (Score:5, Interesting)
According to The Times, "the practice of charging different prices to Internet retailers and high street stockists -- known as dual pricing -- was started by Sony and has been followed by other manufacturers." Here's the article:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-1872549
How about an OS that just plays a music CD (Score:5, Insightful)
Why is the operating system trying to run a program from the CD?
You should be able to set the OS to treat music CD's as music CD's and ignore any other content.
This is all due to MS advanced features messing the user over. Pressure should also be placed on Microsoft to treat music CDs as music CDs.
Perhaps a configuration to easily switch between
1. Play Music
2. Access any Autorun features
3. Offer option of 1 or 2
The more important question (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:fp i hate sony (Score:5, Funny)
The applicable phrase is... (Score:4, Funny)
What do you bet that spyware/rootkits on music CDs disappear for the next few years?
Re:Hey Dan (Score:3, Interesting)
I was hoping that Dan had done some remote scanning. When I looked at the rootkit, I noticed that it registered a named pipe, which ought to be remotely reachable, and probably exploitable.
Re:A little harsh (Score:4, Insightful)
Robert Morris didn't intend his little worm program to spread as widely as it did, but none of the companies and universities whose networks were shut down by the Morris Worm in 1988 cared about intentions. They only cared about the fact that the worm killed their networks. When Sony's software starts playing games with my system I don't care what their intentions were, only what the results are.