If you're as pissed off as I am about the Sony/BMG DRM rootkit scandal, take action!
• Step 1. Refuse to buy CDs produced by Sony, BMG or Columbia House, until they agree that their draconian copy-protection measures
are not only ineffective, but do more harm than good.
• Step 2. Help me make a few cents by buying an official, unauthorized, non-official Boycott Sony t-shirt from my cafepress site!
CLICK HERE.
WTF are you talking about? What's all this?
Basically, here's the Sony rootkit scandal in a nutshell:
Sony, in an effort to reduce piracy, started including software (called DRM, or "Digital Rights Management")
on some of their artists' CDs. So, when you put one of these CDs into your computer to listen to it,
it would install software (without your knowledge or permission) which would, theoretically, limit
your ability to copy and distribute the music on the CD.
The problem with this, as Internet blogger Mark from Sysinternals.com found out, was this software
opened up all kinds of security holes in your computer's defenses, possibly allowing your system to
be attacked by malicious no-good-doers. This software even connects your computer to Sony's servers,
which leaves open the possibility of Sony "spying" on your listenig habits, or whatever other personal
information they want to retrieve.
Well, that's basically it. Keep in mind, this is just a super-simplified version of the whole debacle.
I'd encourage you to read up on this issue, ESPECIALLY if you have recently bought a CD produced by Sony,
and believe you may have been infected by this software.
Interesting Links and background info:
• Mark's sysinternals blog
He's the man who's credited with discovering the security hole and exposing the story. Soon after it was published on his blog,
the mainstream media caught on and gave this story plenty of press.
NEW: From Relix Magazine: "Sony Rootkits: Digital Rights Management Run Amok?"
• The Fine Print: EFF finds astonishing restrictions in the Sony EULA.
(What!? If you move out of country, file for bankruptcy, or if your house gets burgled, you have to delete your music!)
• cNet.com: DRM this, Sony!
"Sony grabs this opportunity to sneak into your house like a virus and set up camp, and it leaves the backdoor open so that Sony or any other enterprising intruder can follow and have the run of the place."
