rootkit
—> Remember Sony's cringe-inducing copy protection scheme a couple of years ago, where they secretly installed rootkits on millions of customers' PCs and then pretended it was no big deal? ("Most people, I think, don't even know what a rootkit is, so why should they care about it?" — Thomas Hesse, Sony BMG's President of Global Digital Business.) There's a new article (PDF) about to be published in the Berkely Technology Law Journal called "The Magnificence of the Disaster: Reconstructiong the Sony BMG Rootkit Incident." It's a very detailed and entertaining read that examines the conditions that led Sony BMG "toward a strategy that in retrospect appears obviously and fundamentally misguided." More »
—>Greg over at Perfect Porridge is one of the guys who bought a rootkit-infected album from Sony BMG. He's one of the guys who qualifies for free replacement albums and a small cash settlement for the trouble he's gone through trying to get Sony's sneaky piece of malware off his computer. More »
—>Somehow this escaped our attention, but on May 23, the judge approved the settlement on the Sony rootkit debacle, you remember, the one where they installed crippling programs on your computer to prevent you from copying their precious cds? More »
—>A couple weeks ago, we repoted that Universal Pictures was intending on selling its embarrassing remake of King Kong over the Internet to customers for the low, low price of thirty five dollars. "Jeezum Crow!" was the only properly incredulous reaction to the announcement. The price was absolutely ghastly for what was being offered — basically, one huge mpeg with none of the extras, packaging or company-expenses of DVDs that sell for half the price. More »
Business Week has more details on the Sony BMG root kit settlement, with more details on Sony's future DRM plans. To answer our own perhaps perfunctory question: yes, Sony BMG jolly well do intend to continue installing DRM on your machines, thank you very much. More »
It appears the Sony rootkit fiasco may be approaching an end. Techdirt is reporting that the company has settled one of many class action lawsuits, offering three free albums' worth of MP3 downloads or $7.50 plus a single albums' worth of downloads. As a poster on Techdirt points out:
According to Sony, 2 albums' worth of music has an actual value of $7.50. That's $3.75 per album. More »
• Confused by the whole 'Sony Rootkit' debacle and don't know which CDs might install malicious software that leaves your PC vulnerable to compromise? Sony BMG has a list of the 50 CDs with the MediaMax DRM, making it easy for you to avoid purchase. You'll just have to get your 'YoungBloodZ' fix elsewhere. More »
As a fledgling best site ever, The Consumerist has had to do a fair amount of soul searching with regard to Digital Rights Management. It's clearly a consumer issue—companies restricting your rights to use a product is our bread and butter—but it's also sort of boring. We've decided to err on the side of pedantry. If the big media companies are still penalizing legitimate consumers, we'll keep pointing out whose products you should avoid. More »
Digital Rights Management (DRM) is, at best, an unnecessary inconvenience. Sometimes we pine for instant gratification and trade away common sense, like when we download music from an online service instead of purchasing a CD. But what if that CD has DRM built-in—DRM that installs the same sort of malicious software used by teenage Russian hackers everywhere (but especially Russia)? More »
