Sony BMG nailed for $1.5 mil
p2pnet.net News:- The Sony BMG music CD spyware farce continues to unwind.
In the latest iteration, Sony BMG Music Entertainment has been ordered to pay $1.5 million and, “kick in thousands more in customer refunds to settle lawsuits brought by California and Texas over music CDs that installed a hidden antipiracy program on consumers’ computers,” says The Associated Press.
Millions of PCs were left wide open to hacker attack through faulty DRM consumer control software hidden in music Sony BMG CDs.
Sunncomm MediaMax or First4Internet XCP spyware programs were loaded into buyers’ computers without their knowledge or consent. Sony BMG was caught red-handed and has been reaping the rewards ever since.
“Not only did the program open a security hole on computers, but attempts by some customers to remove the software also damaged computers,” AP points out.
The settlements cover lawsuits over CDs loaded with both types of DRM, says the story.
The spyware was, “also able to read and transmit IP addresses, thereby identifying the user and sending personal information back to Sony BMG,” says the CBC, going on:
“Philippa Lawson, executive director of the Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic (CIPPIC), said in September the music company could then use that information to go after illegal file-sharers in Canada, says the CBC.Three separate suits were filed in Canada. The first lawsuit, affecting customers in every province except British Columbia and Quebec, was settled in September. The other two provinces reached settlements later in the year.”
The Canadian settlement also generated another scandal triggered by the now infamous Exhibit C, “an astonishing and hitherto well hidden affidavit from Sony’s Canadian Vice President, Legal and Business Affairs, Christine J. Prudham,” as copyright expert Howard Knopf wrote.
“That affidavit purports to explain why Canadians should be content to settle for no injunctive relief, whereas Americans will get injunctive relief against SONY’s outrageous conduct.
“The affidavit contains some ludicrous arguments and statements that are clearly intended to pander to Canadian lawmakers who SONY hopes will deliver DMCA North to Canada in short order, and at the same time to get approval from a Canadian court of a settlement that is much worse even than the highly criticized US settlement.”
In the US settlements, Sony will pay $750,000 to each of the states in civil penalties and costs and reimburse customers whose computers were damaged during attempts to uninstall the software, says AP.
If your Net access is blocked by government restrictions, try Psiphon from the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto’s Munk Centre for International Studies. Go here for the official download, here for the p2pnet download, and here for details. And if you’re Chinese and you’re looking for a way to access independent Internet news sources, try Freegate, the DIT program written to help Chinese citizens circumvent web site blocking outside of China. Download it here.
Also See:
The Associated Press – Sony BMG Settles Suits Over Antipiracy Program, December 20, 2006.
CBC – Sony settles in U.S. over spyware glitch, December 19, 2006
another scandal – Canadian Sony BMG settlement, September 22, 2006
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