[BC] Sony DRM/ CD's to Watch

[DANA PUOPOLO]

Their DRM remover also leaves a HUGE security hole in your computer - as does
the DRM itself (there's already a couple of exploits out there in fact).

This fiasco is going to cost Sony billions - and not just from the end users.
If I was an artist on one of these CD's, I'd be suing them too!

-D


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From: "WLOYPROD WLOYPROD" <WLOYPROD at loyola.edu>
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Subject: Re: [BC] Sony DRM/ CD's to Watch

don't bet on their cave in.
their 'uninstaller' reinstalled an Active-X control to maintain DRM.
several people found it unstable.

as for a recall... not until the suits in the UK, Italy and the US get
worked through.
Sony would rather take the temporary bad hit than deal with the cost
and headache of a recall.

we removed it from 2 machines successfully (*so far*) and have standing
orders to NOT rip any Sony/BMG products into the hard drive systems.

no response from Sony yet on the EULA that didn't mention that they
were logging your data constantly, or that it installed a vulnerability
on your system...

my concern is that the developer (First 4 Internet) claimed long ago to
have gotten the big anti-virus developers to ignore this rootkit as it
was benign.  so the big AV companies are just as big a problem in the
mess IMHO.  They've only JUST released patches and called the software
malware (8+ months after they SHOULD have tested it).

John

>>> sid at wrko.com 11/15/05 7:17 AM >>>
>>So if the rootkit is deleted, does that disable the copy-protection
software?<<

According to the sysinternals.com site, if you delete the rootkit, it
leaves your CD drive invisible, and you have to do another two or
three
registry hacks to get it back.

BTW, it appears that Sony has caved in.  Friday afternoon they
announced that they were stopping CD duplication operations on those
CDs
with the rootkit, and remastering those discs to be issued without it.

However, I saw nothing about a recall from either end users or record
stores, so that still leaves probably several million in circulation.



Sid Schweiger
IT Manager, Entercom Boston LLC
WAAF - WEEI AM/FM - WMKK - WRKO - WVEI
20 Guest St / 3d Floor
Boston MA  02135-2040
Phone: 617-779-5369
Fax: 617-779-5379
E-Mail: sid at wrko.com 

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