Here’s an interesting bout featuring not one, but two crippled combatants. One hobbled by shoddy electronics and the other shackled by leaden copyright protection software. [More]
Search results for: rootkit sony
Erotic Japanese Game "Cross Days" Tricks Pirates Into Posting Personal Info Online
By 3.31.10
If you’re trying to pirate the Japanese erotic manga game Cross Days–and I don’t care what people say, I love that I live in a world where I can type that phrase–you should know that the game’s developers are wise to you, and they’re going to do their best to shame and embarrass you. [More]
Pepsi & Amazon Won't Fix PepsiStuff Error, Keep Ignoring Customer
By 3.11.08
Jon saved up a bunch of PepsiStuff points and decided to redeem them for an item PepsiStuff is promoting on its website. That’s how these point redemption programs usually work, you see. PepsiStuff.com apparently thinks otherwise—they’ll let you redeem the points for a COBY player (ha ha ha ha), but the Sony alarm clock is just redemption bait. You’re not supposed to actually pick that.
Article Recounts Sony's Rootkit Debacle In Detail
By 12.18.07
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.”
Crappy Spyware Bill To Give More Power To Spyware Companies?
By 6.13.07
The EFF is encouraging consumers to write their Senators about a new “spyware” bill that has been, in their words, “massaged by by lobbyists for the software and adware industries.” Cory Doctorow of BoingBoing says the bill
“makes it impossible for consumer rights groups to sue DRM companies for putting spyware in their DRM (like Sony did last year, with its rootkit DRM). The irony is that spyware is already illegal, so all that this act does is immunize big media companies that sneak spyware onto your computer.”
Spyware is spyware, we think, even if it comes with a Sony/BMG logo.
Round 10: Sony vs Exxon
By 3.2.07
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Round 3: Comcast vs Sony
By 2.19.07
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Sony BMG Settles FTC Charges; Customers to Get $150
By 1.31.07
U.S. regulators said Tuesday Sony BMG Music Entertainment agreed to reimburse consumers up to $150 for damage to their computers for selling CDs with hidden anti-piracy software.
We Reupload Heinous PSP Flog Videos Sony Removed
By 12.13.06
UPDATE: The 807 comments that were on the Dancing Petey video, after the jump.
Let’s Kick It To The Old School
By 9.13.06
Twenty-five years ago today, Sergeant Pepper taught the band to play. One year ago today in The Consumerist, uh, we didn’t exist yet. BUT several months ago, we had some cool posts. To pluck your heartstrings, here’s some sepia tinted Consumerist.
Sony Rootkit Settlement Reached, Approved
By 6.6.06
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 On Hollywood’s Crazy Download-To-Own Schemes
By 4.5.06
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.
Round 7: Google vs. Sony BMG
By 3.2.06
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SonySuit.com Covers Sony Rootkit Settlement Details
By 2.7.06
Just in case you purchased a Sony CD “protected” by the rootkit DRM and want to claim your $7.50 worth of mp3s, SonySuit.com has all the available details on registering to take part. We’re still particularly interested in the precedent being set here by Sony: they have gone on record stating that $7.50 is the price of two full albums of digital music. And a few mp3s to have your computer’s security compromised still seems like a pretty crappy deal. But it’s better than nothing and every person taking part in the class action suit is helping send a message to companies trying to implement similarly sleazy DRM schemes. So go check it out, if you’ve still got that Celine Dion receipt in your wallet.
Nettwerk Pays Legal Fees for RIAA-sued Teen
By 1.27.06
Man, the Canadians are just the superstars of taking on the RIAA. First, they sued the pants off of Sony BMG for the root-kit fiasco. And now, Nettwerk, a Canadian music label representing artists like Avril Lavigne, Barenaked Ladies, Dido, Sarah McLachlan and a lot of other hot Canadian girls are paying the legal fees of one of those typical kids who’s being sued by the RIAA for downloading a song off of Kazaa:
B2.0’s “101 Dumbest Moments in Business” 2005
By 1.25.06
Join us as we read the Business 2.0 (on CNNMoney) piece, ‘101 Dumbest Moments in Business (2005),’ featuring old favorites like the Sony BMG rootkit scandal and Overstock.com’s Patrick Byrne’s famous “Sith Lord” investor call, as well as new gems like this:Speaking at an ad industry event in…
