p2p news / p2pnet: p2pnet reader Beverly Hamilton has been keenly following the Sony rootkit DRM spyware saga. So she was particularly interested when she came across a story about it in her local newspaper in Florida >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Sony BMG rootkit DRM uninstaller
By Beverly Hamilton

Let’s face it, not everyone is into p2p. There are a lot of people out there who have no idea what’s going on behind the scenes until it goes into the mainstream media.

I read with interest this article in the Sun Sentinel just this past Sunday. I was fairly impressed with it, until I got to the last paragraph in which the writer informs people that they can go to the Sony website and get their uninstaller should they have the DRM rootkit on their computer. Can you imagine the hundreds of people who will probably go to the website, get the uninstaller and have all kinds of trouble because of it?

You see, sometimes we p2p’rs can get pretty elitist about stuff like this, but the average person would never suspect anything out of the ordinary when visiting their website and unwittingly download the garbage.

I wrote to Mr Piccoli, and here’s what I said:

Dear Mr Piccoli:

I read with interest your article in yesterday’s paper about the Sony rootkit. Having known about this for some time, the p2p network has published extensive articles about it. I am glad to see that “main-stream” media has finally brought this to public attention. Far too late, however. I believe.

As to your comment to go to Sony’s web site and obtain the uninstaller for the rootkit, I must correct you and suggest that you are giving out misinformation. The uninstaller is not safe and could possibly be as bad or worse than the rootkit. Please go to this web site for further information on the subject. It can be researched extensively from there. I’m afraid that people who read your article yesterday just may go to the web site and further damage their computers.

Again, thanks at least for bringing this out into the open, but please retract your statement about the uninstaller.

Here was his reply:

Beverly, hi, and thanks for writing. I had read Prof. Felten’s diagnosis of the uninstall program, in which he basically said the cure may be worse than the disease, but I was under the impression that Sony BMG was taking some steps to address those issues. Maybe I’ve spoken too soon? This is a story with a lot of moving parts, and I’m thinking we’ll have to revisit it soon.
S

I’m one of those people who believe CDs should be played on CD players and not computers anyway.

But I’m probably in the minority on that : )

As to the media exposure about the DRM Rootkit and the Uninstaller … go figure.

Also read:-
Sun Sentinel - A computer spy might be hiding in that new music CD, December 4, 2005

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 6th, 2005 at 9:35 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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