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Sony Shoots Itself In The Foot With DRM Spyware

One day not long ago, a man named Mark Russinovich popped a CD he purchased from Sony Music into his PC. Russinovich isn’t your typical PC user – he arguably knows more about Microsoft Windows than anyone outside of Redmond. Russinovich founded Winternals, a company that makes sophisticated utilities for Windows.

While testing a rootkit detector he was writing, Russinovich was surprised to discover that his Sony CD had secretly installed spyware on his machine, destablizing it and compromising its security. It took Russinovich’s considerable skills to cleanly remove this rootkit. What really infuriated Russinovich was Sony’s refusal to own up to the spyware.

Fortunately, Mark documented the whole procedure on his blog. Word spread around the blogosphere to sites like BoingBoing and Slashdot. Now the mainstream news media like USA Today and the BBC are exposing Sony’s dishonest tactic.

Help spread the word that Sony spies on its customers and takes over their computers. Spend your money on companies that don’t treat their customers like crooks. Until Sony reverses course on this, I won’t be buying any Sony product.

Published

  4. Sony hit by lawsuits over root kit
    http://www.theregister.com/2005/11/10/sony_sued_for_rootkit/

    Sony BMG is facing a class action suit from Californian consumers who claim the music giant’s rootkit DRM technology damaged their computers and breaks three separate Californian laws.

    A second case has been started in New York on behalf of anyone who’s bought one of the CDs.

    Sony sued over copy-protected CDs
    http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4424254.stm

    The EFF also released a partial list of all the CDs protected with XCP. The list includes popular artists such as Natasha Bedingfield, Celine Dion, and Amerie. It also gave advice for ways to spot if a CD is XCP protected.

    So far Sony BMG has not released a list of how many CDs are protected or how many have been sold. It has only said that “about 20” titles are protected with the controversial program.

  5. Sony BMG and First 4 Internet have just released an update that will completely remove the rootkit based DRM content protection software and replace it with a non-rootkit DRM technology that is compatible with all current security protocols. To ensure the security of your system, please visit their software update website to obtain and install Service Pack 2 at:

    http://updates.xcp-aurora.com

    Note: This does not remove the rootkit; it simply unhides it.

    If after this update, you still wish to uninstall our software, please visit the form below using the computer where the software is currently installed and you will be emailed an uninstall link within 1 business day (M-F).

    http://cp.sonybmg.com/xcp/english/form9.html

    TIP: Our uninstall request form will require a small ActiveX plug-in (from First 4 Internet). Be sure to also temporarily turn off any pop-up blocker software. Although a non-ActiveX process is in development, currently, our online process is the only option. Should you prefer to wait for the next uninstallation version, one is due to be released later this month at:
    http://cp.sonybmg.com/xcp/english/updates.html

    Thank you for the opportunity to be of assistance.

    The Sony BMG Online Support Team

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