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General discussion

Where are the criminal prosecutions?

Nov 11, 2005 1:38PM PST

Believe me, I'm all for these civil actions pending against Sony for its rootkit fiasco. But when can we expect to see criminal prosecution for these actions?

If this rootkit had been created or distributed by a couple of German teenagers, a young man in Singapore, or a college student in the Phillipines, police agencies of whichever jurisdiction would have slapped them into jail for a very long time.

It's time for a few Sony directors to spend a little time in the slammer or put up a big chunk of bail money.

Discussion is locked

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Not going to happen
Nov 12, 2005 9:00AM PST

Sony is not going to have any criminal prosecutions. They might be violating some laws, but usually they are relatively minor and prosecuting a company is not easy. They have good lawyers.

I also am not sure it is a good idea. Copywrite and drm are intellectual property issues not criminal ones and allowing civil court to solve the problem is a better option.

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Aye, probably not. But they should.
Nov 14, 2005 2:12AM PST

I agree that it's unlikely that anything will come of it. I can't speak to how difficult it might be to prosecute a corporation for its actions. I suspect the difficulty is in establishing a positive trail of culpability and intent--the mens rea of the corporate embodiment.

I agree on the copyright and DRM issues being civil issues. But this is neither. This is about computer crimes--the unauthorized access of computers without the knowledge and consent of the owners to compromise the security of those systems. There are a number of jurisdictions where this is a clear crime--not a gray area such as copyright infringement or DRM or even DRM thwarting.

Seems to me the biggest issue for prosecution would be the specifics of the EULA. Everything hinges on the EULA, what it specifically says, and whether the courts believe it is valid.

Of course there is always a lot of room for disparity between what is right and what is legal. I believe in this case, however, the Sony's actions are beyond both.

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Viruses Need EULAs
Nov 14, 2005 3:11AM PST

Y'know, if the college student in the Philippines sported a EULA for his trojan horse, he or she could get out of legal trouble.

Isn't that what Sony BMG did?

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No...
Nov 14, 2005 6:09AM PST

I'm afraid that you can't blame just one person at Sony for the rootkit because the company allowed it to be released. Therefore, the only solution is to sue the corporation.