MediaMax stock, anyone?
p2p news / p2pnet: Every day something new emerges relating to the Sony BMG DRM spyware scandal. And as often as not, doing the unveiling is professor Ed Felten’s blog.
This time he reveals MediaMax has filed a prospectus with the SEC in connection with an upcoming stock offering.
Will anyone buy, do you think? >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Inside the MediaMax Prospectus
By Ed Felten – Freedom to Tinker
Bruce Hayden writes that MediaMax, the company associated with the CD-borne spyware product that Sony has not yet recalled, recently filed a prospectus with the SEC in connection with an upcoming stock offering. In the prospectus, the company is required to describe truthfully its business plans and associated risks. MediaMax’s prospectus is a window into the company’s business practices. It was filed on November 4, about a week before we first reported the security and privacy problems caused by MediaMax.
There’s more interesting material in the prospectus than I can cover here. Bruce Hayden describes some of it. You can read the whole prospectus yourself, but most of it is pretty dry. The most interesting parts are the discussion of business risks (note the conspicuous non-mention of security and privacy risks), and the description of the company’s products. The product description is all I’ll write about here.
Page 30 of the prospectus describes how the MediaMax CD copy protection product works. Remember, this is the company’s own description of its product. Here’s the core of the description:
When the disc is inserted, the auto launch feature will activate the MediaMax program on the second session. Depending on the DRM license implementation, this program is either activated directly or through another program. The program first determines if the LMT Software controls are installed on the computer. If not, or if the disc concerned contains a newer version, it will copy the controls from the disc concerned and will install same. The LMT Software controls consist of two dynamic link libraries. The controls are used by the MediaMax application.
Whenever the second session software is executed, the LMT Software controls will first determine if the content protection device driver is installed on the system. If not, it will extract it from the main LMT Software into a separate file and install it as a standard Windows device driver.
The driver first locates all CDROM devices installed on the computer. Then it polls each device to determine if a new disc has been inserted. If so, it reads various elements of the disc to determine if it is a MediaMax protected disc. It is important to note that the driver is completely idle (without any chance to affect the computer or CD/DVD drives), unless an actual MediaMax disc has been detected. Once detected, the driver will insert itself into the communication stream for that drive to prevent any non-authorized activities. While allowing the computer to access the second session and associated content without any limitations, the driver will interfere when applications try to access the first session only.
When the driver detects that the MediaMax disc is ejected, it will remove itself from the communication stream for that drive and switch back to the polling mode. Several enhancements have been implemented to make it very difficult to locate and/or remove the device drivers.
There are several things to note here. First, in describing the installation process, there is no mention of obtaining user consent, or of the possibility that the user might not consent, or of how the product would cope with a non-consent situation. The description is pretty straightforward: when the disc is inserted, they install the software. So the decision to install without consent seems deliberate.
Second, there is no mention of the phone-home feature, even though websites associated with the product talk about how the feature can be used to display third-party ads.
Third, they brag that “enhancements have been implemented to make it very difficult to locate and/or remove the device drivers.” So the decision to resist uninstallation seems deliberate.
Indeed, they make an even stronger statement elsewhere on page 30:
The software is designed to be completely invisible to users, programs and system components.
This is an exaggeration, but it shows that they do aspire to invisibility. Which is interesting because the only way to be “invisible to users, programs and system components” is to use rootkit methods. So it would appear that MediaMax at least planned to follow First4Internet’s lead in shipping a rootkit.
All of this just confirms what I wrote on Friday about how the technical problems with CD copy protection lead vendors to adopt spyware methods. MediaMax’s description of their own product describes software that installs without consent and resists detection and removal, along with an apparent plan to adopt rootkit methods. MediaMax set off down the road of CD copy protection, and they ended up with spyware.
==================
Also read:-
SunnComm needs time —, December 4, 2005
December 14th, 2005 at 10:47 am
There is nothing in here that sounds like the customer that bought something with this on it would want. In fact, they don’t want it. So I wonder why there is no recognition of a user denying accepting this “software” nor is there any way to remove it once installed short of formatting the hard drive to remove this pest.
So there you go, be a nice customer, swallow what the providers give you and know it is in your best interests. After all, you have the comfort of knowing big name corporations with those “great reputations” are backing such products and you can use them all the comfort of mind that they know best how to use their products.
(scarasm free of charge)
December 14th, 2005 at 12:36 pm
MediaMax forgot to mention something:
“Our program is sold “as is”, with no guarantee that it will work.”.
That omission should have tipped off Sony BMG, as anyone can figure out that a program to ouperform or trick an existing one is always possible. As DVD Jon.
One would think that large corporations know how to think.
Or could this be a sign of an internal revolt at Sony BMG because employees do not like what they are doing, by criminilizing the people, mostly youth, and other things?
Rafael Venegas
http://www.gvenegas.com
December 14th, 2005 at 12:39 pm
I am a heavy music consumer. Or was. Artists and record companies need to pay attention to this because I’m sure I’m not alone.
A couple of years ago, I ordered a CD from my favorite band, Stratovarius. While the disk played fine in my stereo and boom box, when I attempted to play it in my laptop, it wouldn’t play at all. What had happened was that the disk had apparently been written in such a way so as to not be playable in computers so that it couldn’t be copied. Note that I don’t even know how to make an MP3. Plus it is too much of a hassle to me anyway.
This was during the time when the record companies were starting to emply Gestaopo tactics to go after users who were using peer to peer networks to download songs. I figured that other bands and record companies were going to take the same tack as Stratovarius did and I wouldn’t be able to use new disks on my laptop when I travelled. I don’t want to bring a separate cd player with me when I go somewhere with my laptop.
So since then, I haven’t bought one cd. I have never used file sharing programs due to security concerns. And now with all this news about record companies secretely loading, and let’s call it what it is, malware on your computer in the name of copy protection, I am done with buying cd’s.
I don’t see how it can be legal for the labels to interdict people’s fair use rights. Moreover, there is an inherent presumption in putting this crap on every copy that all consumers are thieving pirates. Thanks for calling us guilty from the outset guys. I’m sure that business schools are teaching that the best way to curry favor with customers is to make war on them.
The reality is that the record companies have a long history of making war on new technology. When radio came out, the labels went ballistic when broadcasters began to play music, figuring that nobody would buy records if they could hear them over the air. Didn’t quite work out that way, now did it. Then they attacked cassette players when those came out and tried to get those pulled off the market. But then they relented when the devices created a new market (kinda like what happened with VCR’s later on). They then destroyed the DAT player for no good reason by running lawyers at it, and now are making war on the internet and computer technology in general rather than figuring out how to exploit it.
The record companies have appointed themselves technological gatekeepers. Where the hell do they get off in doing that? Either adapt or piss off you lot. We consumers just want to enjoy our purchases without having to think about it. But you’ve generated a lot of uncertainty in the consumer’s minds and now you are paying for it. The record industry’s reputation is only slightly more savory than organized crime and politicians. They have some fence mending to do and they need to shuffle their executives and bring in some people who can work within the framework of the 21st century and not that of the pre-digital era. Until you change your ways, you will not see one more dime from me. Ever.
December 15th, 2005 at 3:04 am
This type makes me sick at the contempt they have for the costumer that is willing to buy Audio CD’s, which makes me wonder something about P2P programs which I have only used the bittorent program for anime fansubs that are not licensed in the U.S. yet. But with all the diffrent programs and diffrent settings to make MP3’s wouldn’t fewer versions of a song be easier to download since there is more copies of the same version of the song out
December 15th, 2005 at 3:30 am
So what I was thinking does this type of program just lead to more people to filesharing programs to get an MP3 file since the it might be easier for them to use P2P then bypass all this Bull Sh of the DRM to get it in an MP3 format that they can use in thier devices that don’t support Itunes or WMA’s, which then leads the file to be more reliable to get since there is more copies out there of the same version that people are sharing.
December 15th, 2005 at 9:07 pm
If Sony is so worried about loosing money, why don’t they just set up the disk not to work at all on a PC or MAC?
May 6th, 2006 at 3:28 am
We are all looking fsorward to a great sseason in 2005. <a href=http://adultvideos.adulthammer.com >adult video</a> We hope you will be there for all the actison. [url=http://adultvideos.adulthammer.com]adult video[/url]
June 7th, 2006 at 3:05 am
We are all looking fsorward to a great sseason in 2005. <a href=http://asian-movie.pornogames4.com/free-asian-shemale-movie.html >free asian shemale movie</a> We hope you will be there for all the actison. [url=http://asian-movie.pornogames4.com/free-asian-shemale-movie.html]free asian shemale movie[/url]
July 19th, 2006 at 3:18 pm
away and no new traffic should be forwarded <a href=http://oiqghhbtf0.blogspot.com/ >valium buy</a> hould generate a removal query. [url=http://oiqghhbtf0.blogspot.com/]valium buy[/url]
November 19th, 2006 at 12:32 am
Very good site! I like it! Thanks!r