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General discussion

SOny DRM Rootkit hits the mainstream

Nov 11, 2005 6:24AM PST

Discussion is locked

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good
Nov 11, 2005 8:30AM PST

its about time too bad it cant happen here in the US yet.

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It has hit the US
Nov 11, 2005 8:43AM PST
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wash post story not harsh enough
Nov 11, 2005 9:42AM PST

Although it's good it's hitting the mainstream news, after reading the Washington Post article, it seemed to me that the Post was not telling all of what the rootkit does. They do say, "antipiracy technology that can leave computers vulnerable to hackers," but they don't give any sort of details untill the very bottom of the article where it says,

"Security researchers have described Sony's technology as 'spyware,' saying it is difficult to remove, transmits without warning details about what music is playing, and that Sony's notice to consumers about the technology was inadequate. "

Of course, one of the first things they talk about in the article is not the problems with the DRM, but nice Sony's attempts to make a peaceful resolution - "Sony defended its right to prevent customers from illegally copying music but said it will halt manufacturing CDs with the "XCP" technology as a precautionary measure."

Only toward the end of the article does the Post tell readers about what the CD actually does to your computer.

I can understand that the Post want's to be neutral, but they aren't severe enough on the major things in this issue. It makes it out like the problem is all cleared up - after all, there's a fix for it, and sony isn't making any more, so what's the problem? Of course, they said they were temporarially discontinuting them, so perhaps that means they will be back. The article also does not say anything about the fishyness of the removal process - that suposadly the patch contains more problems (has that been confirmed?) - and, of course, the fact that when you try to remove it without the patch it disables your cd drive.

Just my opinion