p2pnet - rss feed: Sony BMG rootkit ‘peace treaty’
p2p news / p2pnet: "As peace treaties go, it might be one of history’s swiftest negotiations. On Dec. 28, Sony BMG settled a consolidated class-action lawsuit filed by consumers just six weeks earlier over particularly aggressive copy protections embedded in millions of the record label’s CDs."
That’s BusinessWeek Online on Sony BMG’s sordid First 4 Internet XCP SunnComm MediaMax debacle. Now the company is moving with indecent speed to bury it.
Sony BMG weasled DRM (Digital Restrictions Management) and rootkit spyware onto the computers of people who’d bought some of its music CDs. The software – the SunnComm version also exposed users to potentially serious security problems – was hidden on the discs and secretly installed itself when buyers played the music.
"Sony BMG - a joint venture of Sony (SNE) and Bertelsmann - will give away millions of free downloads and CDs, shun similar copy-protection schemes, and establish rigorous oversight of the company’s digital-rights management, says BusinessWeek Online, adding:
"If the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York approves the deal in the coming weeks, as is expected, the settlement could set the groundwork for a broader détente between creative content providers - such as Hollywood, the recording studios, and software designers - and the growing number of consumers rankled by the industry’s attempts to control what people can do with their legally purchased CDs, DVDs, and other digitized material."
Actually, consumers aren’t merely "rankled". They’re furious. And.this is very far from being a "peace treaty". It’s an unscrupulous company being forced to pay the price of its dirty dealings. Or part of it, at least. And on the headline Sony BMG Ends a Legal Nightmare, the nightmare hasn’t ended. It’s just the beginning because unlike the mainstream media, Net mwedia have long memories and deep data bases.
Moreover, the excreta will also splatter onto the other three equally villainous members of the Big Four Organized Music family, Vivendi Universal, Warner Music and EMI.
Curiously, Thomas Hesse who runs the Sony BMG global digital business and who A) wondered at the huge response, saying, “Most people, I think, do not even know what a Rootkit is, so why should they care about it?”; and, B),who described the spyware issue as "slight," doesn’t appear to have been fired.
Go here for the details.
Also See:
BusinessWeek Online - Sony BMG Ends a Legal Nightmare, December 29, 2005
bury it - Sony BMG rootkit DRM deal, December 29, 2005
December 30th, 2005 at 3:32 pm
… at least it wouldn’t be for me…
Giving candies to kids makes it allright?
Only thing that I would accept is full financial recompensation and public statement stating that SONY is changing its busines practitce and will _never_ do anything like this again… (for just in case they try anything again - they could be bitch-slapped for it
… but than again I’m not their customer, so my voice doesn’t count….
December 31st, 2005 at 1:35 am
Oh geesh, I read the settlement. What the hell were they thinking? I agree, nEJC, it’s not enough. So, the victims will get financial remuneration and free cd’s and downloads? Give me a break here, I don’t think they will go overboard to compensate anyone on this. Full financial remuneration i.e. funds for new computers (preferably with Linux) and not this “not do it again for two years” crap, but never, period. Cease and desist and nothing else - oh, and pay up in full!!
And hey nEJC, yes your voice does count. Just because I’m not a voter for Bush doesn’t mean I can’t say I want him impeached! Sorry for the political dig…….
Jon, I thank you from the bottom of my little heart for the edit button.