The real p2p pirates and thieves
p2p news / p2pnet: Sony BMG, one of the four members of the Organized Music crime gang and, hence, also an owner of both the RIAA Recording Industry Association of America) and MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America), was caught brazenly planting Digital Restrictions Management “protection” spyware in customers’ computers without their knowledge or permission.
Now the mainstream media are going where we and other blogs and news sites have gone before.
“Controversial copy-protection software used by music publisher Sony BMG on music CDs appears to have tapped an open source project, raising questions about copyrights, software experts said on Friday,” states Reuters.
“Appears” to have? And “tapped?”
There’s no doubt about it. Sony BMG’s hired help, First4Internet, didn’t tap, it lifted, GPL code direct from L.A.M.E. and DVD Jon Lech Johansen. Then Sony BMG deliberately burned it into music CDs which it deliberately sold to the public, knowing full well its DRM (Digital Restrictions Management) spyware would be planted in customers’ computers without their knowledge or consent.
Moreover, as Finland’s Matti Nikki originally discovered, the uninstall patch (Sony BMG didn’t say where that came from) written to ‘fix’ things was as bad as the spyware, as the Sony BMG DRM software has now been officially named and described.
But we don’t hear anyone such as Lamar Smith or Hollywood Howard Berman screaming for Sony to be shut down.
The XCP DRM spyware which splattered not egg, but worse, all over Sony BMG’s corporate face, came from an English company, First4Internet and, as Reuters says, it’s and used by Sony BMG to, “restrict copying and sharing of music CDs” and is “already highly controversial because it acts like virus software and hides deep inside a computer where it leaves the backdoor open for malicious hackers”.
The revelations have forced Sony BMG to recall close to five million CDs tainted with the software.
“The XCP program will have installed itself on a Windows-operated personal computer when consumers want to play 49 title CDs from Sony BMG,” says Reuters. “The programme forces consumers to use a music player that comes with the program.”
Beverly Hamilton
And it’s caused genuine distress to thousands of ordinary people of whom Bevery Hamilton, 56, a long-time p2pnet reader who lives near Fort Lauderdale in Florida, is one.
A former medical transcriptionist and medical assistant who was forced to retire after her back was broken in a street attack, she used to be a big BMG fan and member of the BMG Music Club. And she’s one of the hundreds of millions of people who see their computers in the same light as they see their cars: they’re pieces of machinery. Who knows what makes them run?
Beverley, aka the u2btrfly or 747btrfly, was worried the Sony BMG code would pollute her computer. “I’m not much of a computer expert but I know I no longer want anything to do with BMG,” she emailed p2pnet.
“I was a member of the BMG Music Club but I canceled my membership and attached the open letter from EFF. I told them I believe my reasons would be self-explanatory.’
“BMG called me the next morning after receiving my email but I didn’t even let them talk. I just told them, ‘You got my letter last night and I don’t feel I need to discuss it any further, I think it explains itself.’
“Then I hung up. And shoot, I had about six freebies coming from them. They can keep them or give ‘em to charity. 
”
You can bet Beverly Hamilton won’t be alone.
She’s also a an ex-Internet Explorer user who these days uses Firefox for her browsing pleasure. “I only go into IE if I have to run my computer for tests at PCPitstop and that’s because they have to use the ActiveX for them,” she says. “The only other time is to increase the security or to do things like put bmgmusic.com on my restricted sites list.
“Really, I would rather stick needles into my eyes than go back to IE!”
Welcome to the club ; )
“Geesh,” Beverly adds, ” when I think of all the CDs, LPs, books and games I bought in my lifetime (I’m a baby boomer ya’ know, or shall I say slightly aging hippie) I could have had a nice nest egg by now! 
“My question is this: What is a topprot rootkit application and do I need it? I have it downloaded to my Firefox folder, but I could really use some advice on this.”
She’d bought her last Sony BMG CD a couple of months before the scandal surfaced and thus had nothing to fear.
But she didn’t know that.
Meanwhile, as far as the Sony BMG ‘product’ goes, “I’ve bought my last CD from BMG,” promises Beverly. So I guess I may not have to worry.
“But you never know what kind of bugs I can get from someone else, if you know what I mean.”
We know exactly what you mean, Beverly.
Sony the Pure
Trying to infect consumer computers with spyware and ‘tapping’ code from others is by no means Sony BMG’s only transgression.
Its electronics division has just been accused of price fixing online in anticipation of the Christmas rush, and the music division was recently in effect fined $10 million for:
* Outright bribes to radio programmers, including expensive vacation packages, electronics and other valuable items;
* Contest giveaways for stations’ listening audiences;
* Payments to radio stations to cover operational expenses;
* Retention of middlemen, known as independent promoters, as conduits for illegal payments to radio stations;
* Payments for “spin programs,” airplay under the guise of advertising.
It’s been ordered to pay $1.5 million for inventing a fake movie critic to hype it flics.
It received a “a slap on the wrist for trying to seduce new customers with a fake fan letter”.
And lest we forget …
Virtually anything that can be said about Sony BMG can also be said about the other entertainment industry cartel members and their RIAA and MPAA.
The RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) is owned principally by Vivendi Universal, EMI Group, Warner Music and Sony BMG.
The MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) is owned principally by Walt Disney, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Paramount Pictures, Twentieth Century Fox, Universal City Studios; and Warner Bros.
Both groups, and their owners, regularly and routinely refer to people whom they’ve driven to the p2p networks as ‘criminals,’ ‘thieves’ and ‘pirates’.
And both groups have likened file sharers to ‘drug traffickers,’ the most recent claim in this direction emenating from the MPAA which is, of course, nothing more than a Hollywood enforcer dressed up as a trade organization.
“These are dark days in Hollywood,” says an E-Online feature. “And they could get even darker.
“Insiders say it’s only a matter of time before Tinseltown’s increasingly dangerous drug scene claims more young stars. The doses are stronger, the access is easier and the pressures of fame are greater than ever.”
It goes on, “The combination of celebrities and drugs is nothing new in Hollywood. Some of the town’s biggest names – stars like Marilyn Monroe, Robert Mitchum, Judy Garland, Drew Barrymore and River Phoenix – will forever be remembered for more than just their onscreen talents.
“But the high-profile arrests, the splashy headlines – and especially the overdoses – are coming faster now: Robert Downey Jr., Christian Slater, Chris Farley… “
And Organized Music, aka Vivendi Universal, EMI Group, Warner Music and Sony BMG?
“The Music Corporation of America, legally incorporated as MCA, Inc., is a United States based corporation in the music business. MCA publishes music, books music acts, and runs a record label,” says the Wikipedia. “MCA was founded as a music booking agency based in Chicago, Illinois in 1924 by Jules Stein.”
Represented by a mobster
Below are eight paragraphs from Dan E. Moldea’s book, MCA Music & the Mafia: Did the Justice Department cut Reagan’s Hollywood pals a break?
In March 1984 the executives of the nation’s record companies gathered at the Diplomat Hotel in Hollywood, Florida for the annual convention of the National Association of Recording Merchandisers. Buyers and sellers in the $ 4.5 billion recording business had come together to unveil their new catalogs, to socialize, and to make deals.
One of those who had come to do a little business was a mobster named Salvatore James Pisello, who had connections to major organized crime operations in the New York City area. Pisello wasn’t the only mobster at the convention. A series of record and tape counterfeiting operations had led federal investigators to suspect that organized crime figures were worming their way into the lucrative music business, and the presence of several hoods at the convention confirmed their suspicions.
None of the mobsters in attendance had Pisello’s cachet, however. He was there not as a greasy hood trying to strong-arm a small-time distributor but as a representative of MCA Records, a subsidiary of MCA Incorporated, the most powerful force in the entertainment industry. Pisello had come to make a relatively small deal on MCA’s behalf — to sell a little more than $ 1 million worth of out-of-date records — but his appearance was significant. One of the industry’s giants was being represented by a mobster. How deeply had the industry been infiltrated? Four years after the convention there’s still no answer to that question. But there’s a new question: Why has the Justice Department dropped its investigation of the ties between Pisello and MCA?
Last December, according to sources in the Justice Department, the Los Angeles prosecutor who had started the investigation was called to Washington and told by top officials of the Strike Force Against Organized Crime to eliminate MCA from the probe. David Margolis, the strike force’s chief, and Michael DeFeo, his deputy, told Marvin Rudnick, the prosecutor, that he could pursue a tax case against Pisello, who had earned about $ 600,000 in income from his dealings with MCA, but that he couldn’t call several of MCA’s executives as witnesses nor could he try to determine the exact nature of Pisello’s relationship with MCA.
The action raises a host of troubling questions and has prompted a preliminary investigation by a House subcommittee. While spokesmen for the Justice Department and MCA refuse to comment on the case, the House Energy and Commerce Oversight Subcommittee has interviewed witnesses in an attempt to determine if hearings are warranted and whether Justice Department officials acted properly in killing the investigation.
The case is certainly worth examining. Why, for instance, when the entire record industry is under the scrutiny of grand juries in at least five cities, would one major record company be exempted from investigation? Why would a supposedly reputable business get involved in a series of apparently unprofitable deals with a man of dubious background?
One element of the case makes the whole matter even more curious: the names of some of MCA’s high-placed friends. These include Robert Strauss, a former chairman of the Democratic National Committee and an MCA board member; Howard Baker, a former U.S. senator and a former MCA board member; and Ronald Reagan, the president of the United States and once one of MCA’s most important clients.
Interviews with industry sources and law enforcement officials, court documents, and MCA’s own records indicate that there’s an unusual relationship between the Mafia figure and the Fortune 500 company — a relationship that seems to be just the sort of thing that the Justice Department is supposed to investigate.
The book dates to 1988, but one wonders how much things have changed within the movie and music businesses since then.
In the meanwhile, the entertainment cartels continue to call the people who used to be their customers (but who’ve been alienated by the bizarre sue ‘em all marketing scheme, rip-off pricing and tactics such as Sony BMG’s DRM scheme) thieves and criminals.
Stay tuned.
Jon Newton – p2pnet
===============
First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win
- Mohandas Gandhi
Tired of being treated like a criminal? They depend on you, not the other way around. Don’t buy their ‘product’. Do bug your local political representatives. Use emails, snail-mail, phone calls, faxes, IM, stop them in the street, blog. And if you’re into organizing, organize petitions, organize demonstrations and then turn up on your local political rep’s doorstep, making sure you’ve contacted your local tv/radio station/newspaper in advance.
See:-
Reuters – Software writers spot open source in Sony BMG CDs, November 17, 2005
L.A.M.E. – Sony DRM rips off L.A.M.E., November 14, 2005
originally discovered – Malware tech for all ; ), November 15, 2005
November 18th, 2005 at 2:05 pm
whenever I see on electronic products saying Sony I stay away now because of this DRM issue.
November 18th, 2005 at 2:21 pm
Mashboxx the long delayed pay p2p service is a project of Sony BMG and Andy Lack the CEO of Sony Music is one of the principal backers of Mashboxx .
I hope the p2p community remebers this when Mashboxx is released ,
November 18th, 2005 at 2:28 pm
Sony is losing a lot of business, and face because of this.
Lot’s of folks saing, i’ll never buy Sony “insert product here”
again. That’s fantastic.
But, don’t forget.
Sony is not alone, by any stretch of the mind.
Sony just screwed up, got caught.
All of the other companies are doing THE SAME THING.
They just haven’t been caught.
While we focus rabidly on Sony, the rest of the cartels are
pushing for laws on such things as a beefed upped Broadcast flag,
Jail time for Infringers, removal of ANY rights that even resemble
fair use.
Boycott THEM ALL !!
Write your representatives and let them know that if they support
the cartels, they will no longer have a job.
November 18th, 2005 at 4:13 pm
If you hate the record labels so much just stop stealing their stuff.
Go write and record your own music… stop stealing everybody else’s..
To complain about the very people you steal from for trying to protect their stuff is just LAME…
November 18th, 2005 at 4:57 pm
I really wish people without any scientific or economic knowledge would get past calling unauthorized sharing “stealing”. Unauthorized sharing may be infringing of copyright, but it isn’t theft. This is a hundreds-of-years old conversation where most educated people have grown past such immature thinking.
“If nature has made any one thing less susceptible than all others of exclusive property, it is the action of the thinking power called an idea, which an individual may exclusively possess as long as he keeps it to himself; but the moment it is divulged, it forces itself into the possession of every one, and the receiver cannot dispossess himself of it. Its peculiar character, too, is that no one possesses the less, because every other possesses the whole of it.” Thomas Jefferson , 13 Aug. 1813 http://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/documents/a1_8_8s12.html
While it is possible that unauthorized sharing such as copyright infringement could reduce a sale, it is nothing remotely like stealing which deprives the owner of the tangible thing which was stolen.
Where does this stop? If a store put a license agreement on a lawnmower that said you could only personally use it, and you shared it with your neighbour to mow both of your lawns, will you also call this stealing? It could be claimed to be breach of contract (violation of a license), but contract law is more balanced than your childish concept of “theft” given it protects both valid contracts and protects consumers from invalid contracts.
November 18th, 2005 at 5:53 pm
If you are an artist then it is YOUR stuff, not the labels. you created it. So why aren’t you out there trying to regain posession of your intellectual property instead of letting them steal it and blindly calling those who SHARE thieves. (every kid in school who loans their friends the latest CD so their friend can take it home and copy it are also thieves aren’t they?)
If you’re not an artist but work for the industry then you’re a wage slave trying to protect your lively hood at the expense of musicians and artists.
If you’re neither then you’ve bought into all their lies they smear throughout the mainstream media.
In either case the other response about stealing applies.
November 18th, 2005 at 6:03 pm
Thanks Russel.
Now for the “Troll” ……
1. Nowhere in my post did I mention that I download OR
purchase anything from the majors. So, how did you
ascertain that I “steal”. Does my support of boycotting the
“Majors” for THEIR criminal actions automatically make me
a “thief”, or are you simply psychic ?
2. The Oberholz/Strumpf (sp) Harvard/Yale study showed that
P2P firesharing has an overall effect of nearly ZERO on sales.
So where is the industry being hurt ?
I’ll tell you ( Well, you told me yourself actually ) …
“Go write and record your own music… stop stealing everybody else’s.. ”
Now, lot’s of people can do exaclty that.
Not only can they do THAT, they can distribute, get themselves”known” through P2P, with minimal cost.
If the industry can’t control P2P. well then, the middleman wastes away, and the playing field levels for ALL players.
I have ignored “industry” stuff for nearly 2 years now, neither buying or downloading it, content to fo to sites like Dmusic for true
independently produced music.
3. So how long has Sony been paying you to troll on the pro P2P
boards ?
Dreddsnik
Boycott-RIAA.com
November 18th, 2005 at 6:13 pm
Hi Beverly!
Don’t worry about your computer. Nothing Sony BMG has done is going to hurt you, not that it didn’t try. And you’re way better off without it =)
November 18th, 2005 at 6:41 pm
welcome to the real world ;D
November 18th, 2005 at 10:04 pm
Notice that the trolls can’t stand more than a one hit run. After that they are gone because they can’t stand the heat of the kitchen. Far easier it is to make a stupid, uninformed post and haul butt.
I guess they are earning their paychecks, lowly though they be.
November 18th, 2005 at 11:16 pm
“To complain about the very people you steal from for trying to protect their stuff is just LAME…”
Funny you should mention that.
“Sony BMG’s hired help, First4Internet, didn’t tap, it lifted [stole], GPL code direct from L.A.M.E….”
http://lame.sourceforge.net/
The best MP3 encoder, period.
How ironic…
November 18th, 2005 at 11:42 pm
“one wonders how much things have changed within the movie and music businesses since then”
Believe me, nothing has changed.
Morg
November 19th, 2005 at 1:04 am
The people who are serious about trading music (not sharing) use private file servers. There are millions of them on the net so the enforcers better get busy.
They will never shut down trading of music.
November 19th, 2005 at 5:07 am
Thanks Sony, people now have a legitimate reason why to download the same songs from the Internet that is on their lawfully purchased CD. If I was downloading cartel produced crap and I got a letter indicating I was going to be sued, here is what I would do:
I would make a list of each song that I was accused of downloading. I would then check my puchased music collection for any songs that were on the list. Any purchased or borrowed CD that had a listed song would then be photographed. I would then take CASH (not a check nor credit card), and I would purchase the other songs from music stores, garage sales, or I would borrow from other people. I would photograph or produce these CD’s for several witnesses to see. This would prove that I puchased every song I downloaded beforehand. I would then sign an affidavit stating that the reason why I downloaded these these songs is because I am afraid to use the ones on the CD because they might contain a rootkit. I would give thius affidavit to my lawyer.
November 19th, 2005 at 1:33 pm
In the Cecilia Gonzalez case, they WANTED to sue her for
. They didn’t want a judge to rule an unfavorable precedent
over 1000 files.
After the discovery phase, the DROPPED the number of counts
to 30. That’s becuase she owned purchased copies of everything
else
on the others.
Here’s the problem though ……
They did ,in fact, try to sue Cecilia for DOWNLOADING.
After they lost face here, and had to drop the count to 30, they
learned a lesson, and no longer try to sue for downloading. They
found that it is actually pretty easy for the victim to defend
themselves in the manner you suggest.
The current cases are all for “distributing”.
They StILL screwed up pretty badly though. In THESE cases
all the victim has to do is DEMAND proof of specific acts of
infringement. They can’t produce that proof. That’s why the cases
are currently stalled. Now the only tactic the RIAA has is to try to
run the victim out of cash by stretching out the legalities as long
as possible.
November 20th, 2005 at 4:36 am
you tied a bunch of stuff together in one place that makes a huge case against the RIAA & MPAA
November 20th, 2005 at 8:12 am
Not more lame than that stupid post you wrote. If ignorance is bliss, you must be one happy (& stupid) son of a bitch!
November 20th, 2005 at 3:20 pm
If eveyone who had this rootkit installed on their computer put a claim against Sony in a small claims court, Sony would be forced to fly its representative out for EACH case in each jurusdiction. They might win the case, but it would still cost them money for transportaion, salaries, and such. This is the same tactic used by the cartels against filesharers, so it will work in reverse.
One worker be trying to sting you can be easily swat; A whole swarm of worker bees trying to sting you can be a real b1tc4!!!
November 20th, 2005 at 10:51 pm
I believe most educated people have also gotten beyond intentional use of words that do not express the content they wish to convey.
You and your kind use the word “share” when it simply does not apply. When we were all young, why did we not want to “share” our toys? Because when we did so, WE NO LONGER HAD POSSESSION OF THE ITEM. When a P2P system deletes the file on a users computer as soon as it is transferred to another computer, then the file has been “shared.”
November 20th, 2005 at 11:15 pm
I suport stealing from all the major labels. If artists don’t like it then they should not use these labels and go it alone and then if they are good I may buy there stuff. After this there is no way I will ever buy from a major label, they can not be trusted. Sony sucks and those that sign with them suck.
November 21st, 2005 at 12:18 am
Obviously our troll has a different view of the world. You still have the toys you stole when you were young?
Since the use of DRM, the industry has tried to take all concept of the right of first sale away. That makes your “arguement” invalid. Keep your cartels’ stuff, go collect your paycheck and tell em you tried.
November 21st, 2005 at 3:54 pm
From http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=share
v. shared, shar·ing, shares
v. tr.
1. To divide and parcel out in shares; apportion.
2. To participate in, use, enjoy, or experience jointly or in turns.
3. To relate (a secret or experience, for example) to another or others.
4. To accord a share in (something) to another or others: shared her chocolate bar with a friend.
Looks to me that def #2 is relevant here.
Is this the best you can do? Refute an accurate criticism with a ridiculous rejoinder?
Can’t you RIAA-types win the debate without resorting to ridiculous and misleading arguments?
November 21st, 2005 at 3:56 pm
It’s not “stealing”. Thanks for playing.
And speaking of LAME — when you choose to describe one group of people (Sony) as “just trying to protect their stuff” and another as criminals, even though they’ve basically engaged in the same behavior (actually, worse: Sony violated cybercrime law), your biases become pretty obvious.
November 21st, 2005 at 3:58 pm
I suppose you also think recording music off the radio is “stealing”, too. Too bad the Supreme Court disagrees with you, and considering the effect is identical, it seems to me you haven’t got a leg to stand on.
December 14th, 2005 at 3:44 am
Fluff
Why should copyright holders be given protection for their creation for life plus ?
Their end effort produces a product of no value
Drug companies spend years developing a drug that saves or improves life, yet are protected for only twenty years
Farmers spend millions and get payed at rates that their grandfathers were payed.
The man who repairs your car does not get payed each time the car starts after a repair.
The plumber does not get payed each time you flush after a repair.
When Girl scouts sell you a cookie it,s yours.
When you buy a car, the manufacture does not have the right to tell you how to drive it.
If no music was played from this day on:
People would not die from its loss
There would be food to eat
there would be cloths to ware
there would be water to drink
there would be homes to live in
there would be cars to drive
there would be air to breath
there would be planes to fly
Life would change very little if at all, music is nothing more then fluff, how it’s become a top priority
for the government is beyond me.
The fluff salesman has done their job well i guess.
December 14th, 2005 at 7:11 am
and the people who have been sued already by the xxAA’s should be the first ones doing this. They should purposely infect their computers by those infected cds and file a suit. Even if one-tenth of the 75,000 odd who got sued, do it, it’ll be a hell of a battle.
I can think of a nice argument in their case: When they use p2p they get sued for thousands… When they dont and do the right thing by buying the cds, they get infected and getting their computers repaired again costs them thousands. Talk about being stuck between a rock and a hard place.