Sony Whips Up DRM Storm
The blogs are alight with discussion about the discovery that a recently released Sony music CD installs a rootkit when it is played on a Windows PC.
A rootkit is a tool that can be used to compromise computer systems without detection. The existence of the rootkit was uncovered by Mark Russinovich of Sysinternals and documented in fascinating detail on his blog.
Although the right of music companies to protect their assets is being grudgingly accepted by most computer users, the use of such tools to do so is being widely condemned, not least by Mark Russinovich himself.
“The entire experience was frustrating and irritating,” he writes. “Not only had Sony put software on my system that uses techniques commonly used by malware to mask its presence, the software is poorly written and provides no means for uninstall. Worse, most users that stumble across the cloaked files with a RKR scan will cripple their computer if they attempt the obvious step of deleting the cloaked files.”
The end user has to agree to a license agreement before the CD will play which does make mention of the DRM software to be installed.
“…this CD will automatically install a small proprietary software program (the “SOFTWARE”) onto YOUR COMPUTER. The SOFTWARE is intended to protect the audio files embodied on the CD, and it may also facilitate your use of the DIGITAL CONTENT. Once installed, the SOFTWARE will reside on YOUR COMPUTER until removed or deleted. However, the SOFTWARE will not be used at any time to collect any personal information from you, whether stored on YOUR COMPUTER or otherwise.”
Sounds reasonable, doesn’t it? The good folk of the internet don’t think so and an almighty stink is being kicked up.
Sony has yet to respond.
Source: MediaCenterPCWorld
Add comment November 2nd, 2005