Also not one of those cds will end up on my computer either. Oh except for Canadian inspiration Celine Dionrogueintellectproductions wrote:I am of the opinion that Sony has the right to protect their music, but not at the cost of installing malicious software onto a user's system.
Bruce Schneier wrote:On Nov. 4, Thomas Hesse, Sony BMG's president of global digital business, demonstrated the company's disdain for its customers when he said, "Most people don't even know what a rootkit is, so why should they care about it?" in an NPR interview. Even Sony's apology only admits that its rootkit "includes a feature that may make a user's computer susceptible to a virus written specifically to target the software."
The rootkit has even been found on computers run by the Department of Defense, to the Department of Homeland Security's displeasure. While Sony could be prosecuted under U.S. cybercrime law, no one thinks it will be. And lawsuits are never the whole story.
Initial estimates are that more than half a million computers worldwide are infected with this Sony rootkit. Those are amazing infection numbers, making this one of the most serious internet epidemics of all time -- on a par with worms like Blaster, Slammer, Code Red and Nimda.
Symantec's response to the rootkit has, to put it kindly, evolved. At first the company didn't consider XCP malware at all. It wasn't until Nov. 11 that Symantec posted a tool to remove the cloaking. As of Nov. 15, it is still wishy-washy about it, explaining that "this rootkit was designed to hide a legitimate application, but it can be used to hide other objects, including malicious software."
The only thing that makes this rootkit legitimate is that a multinational corporation put it on your computer, not a criminal organization.
Who are the security companies really working for? It's unlikely that this Sony rootkit is the only example of a media company using this technology. Which security company has engineers looking for the others who might be doing it? And what will they do if they find one? What will they do the next time some multinational company decides that owning your computers is a good idea?
Unpronounceable_Symbol wrote:And for that matter, the companies are actually trying to declare part of your PC as theirs when you use their CDs, which is sorta ludicrous. Even software developers don't ask to stake a permanent and secret claim on your hard drive like that.
SOAD2k8 wrote:I'm surprised no one posted about this yet....
Unpronounceable_Symbol wrote:I was going to never buy from Sony again, but Sony owns Columbia and I couldn't pass up a remastered Born to Run. :p
RamonesFan2020204 wrote:Unpronounceable_Symbol wrote:I was going to never buy from Sony again, but Sony owns Columbia and I couldn't pass up a remastered Born to Run. :p
That doesn't have a root kit on it, does it?
TaranT wrote:SOAD2k8 wrote:I'm surprised no one posted about this yet....
http://www.animemusicvideos.org/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=60270
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