Certain Sony copy protected CDs *might* negatively affect your computer

[FunkyHiFi]

I'm not that knowledgable about computers but according to this guy, certain CDs from Sony could really screw up your computer because they act like badly-written spyware:

"Sony, Rootkits and Digital Rights Management Gone Too Far"

Here's two threads about this elsewhere with much less technical explanations: hometheaterforum.com and stevehoffman.tv.

[paul jones]

Originally Posted by FunkyHiFi

I'm not that knowledgable about computers but according to this guy, certain CDs from Sony could really screw up your computer because they act like badly-written spyware:

"Sony, Rootkits and Digital Rights Management Gone Too Far"

Here's two threads about this elsewhere with much less technical explanations: hometheaterforum.com and stevehoffman.tv.

thanks for that

[FunkyHiFi]

thanks for that

No problem.

FYI: In that stevehoffman.tv discussion, in post #20 a member has posted a link to an official removal tool from Sony for this junk.

BTW: remember that Sony owns many different labels, so make sure to check out the small print on CDs and labels.

[King PSYZ]

heads up, thats not a removal tool, but something to "patch" the gaping fucking hole it left in your security.

best advice?
boycott sony/bmg and universal music groups releases with copy protection until they're removed from store shelves.

their rootkit malware seems nigh impossible to remove at this point as it buries itself into your computer.

[mp-seventythree]

Fuck Sony

[EN[i]GMA]

And this is the reason why I don't buy music.

They don't deserve my money.

I hope they choke and die.

[TonsOfFun]

Yeah, I would say, download them for free if they are gonna do that. If they don't trust their customers then they don't deserve any customers.

Plus reading the article. I would say it's his fault for using a OS that uses drivers to effect such running of your computer - eg Windows, which is another reason for you lot to stop using Mirco$oft products to. I know most of you will but, it's all hand in hand to make life harder for the public and richer for the Corporations.

[ASsman]

Hehe not to worry Linux and Mac OSX users... it only fucks up Windoze. When will they ever learn, there will always be a way and I will always be able to download it. SOFTWARE can be cracked, just a matter of time, idiots. I laugh at their futile attempts and millions of dollars paying their programmers. When some college kids in their mothers basement are hacking the shit out of it.

[FunkyHiFi]

heads up, thats not a removal tool, but something to "patch" the gaping fucking hole it left in your security.

I haven't bought one of these CDs (and I won't be) but for people who already have, do you think maybe using Window's "restore" feature might help them?

[EN[i]GMA]

Originally Posted by TonsOfFun

Yeah, I would say, download them for free if they are gonna do that. If they don't trust their customers then they don't deserve any customers.

Plus reading the article. I would say it's his fault for using a OS that uses drivers to effect such running of your computer - eg Windows, which is another reason for you lot to stop using Mirco$oft products to. I know most of you will but, it's all hand in hand to make life harder for the public and richer for the Corporations.

The CD won't run on Linux.

IT won't run without installing aforementioned software.

It's fucking disgusting.

[TonsOfFun]

I thought it said it effected the drivers of your computer? No mention of it effecting anything else I don't think but I didn't read it that closely. If there is no drivers to effect what does it effect?

I'll check the other links to makes sense of it all...

[TonsOfFun]

Originally Posted by EN[i]GMA

The CD won't run on Linux.

IT won't run without installing aforementioned software.

It's fucking disgusting.

Ok, further to my other message and what you said. The blog users state it will work on linux. As it does only attack your drivers, but I haven't tested it on my Linux system. Hasn't yours worked? I'm sure a crack can be easily recreated. Try searching on google.co.uk/linux for the answer.

Also anyone else using Linux, that is a great search engine for Linux users as it cuts out A LOT of crap when searching and stops you incorporating things like "linux, redhat, fedora" into what you are searching which brings up a million more searchs than you want.

[ASsman]

World of Warcraft hackers using Sony BMG rootkit
Rootkit beets spyware
By SecurityFocus
Published Friday 4th November 2005 10:23 GMT
Get breaking Security news straight to your desktop - click here to find out how

Want to cheat in your online game and not get caught? Just buy a Sony BMG copy protected CD.

World of Warcraft hackers have confirmed that the hiding capabilities of Sony BMG's content protection software can make tools made for cheating in the online world impossible to detect. The software - deemed a "rootkit" by many security experts - is shipped with tens of thousands of the record company's music titles.

Blizzard Entertainment, the maker of World of Warcraft, has created a controversial program that detects cheaters by scanning the processes that are running at the time the game is played. Called the Warden, the anti-cheating program cannot detect any files that are hidden with Sony BMG's content protection, which only requires that the hacker add the prefix "$sys$" to file names.

Despite making a patch available on Wednesday to consumers to amend its copy protection software's behavior, Sony BMG and First 4 Internet, the maker of the content protection technology, have both disputed claims that their system could harm the security of a Windows system. Yet, other software makers that rely on the integrity of the operating system are finding that hidden code makes security impossible.

Copyright © 2005, SecurityFocus

[FunkyHiFi]

::shakes head::

If the above news wasn't so serious, I would be laughing.

I think Sony will be getting themselves into some deep legal doodoo with this stunt.

[FunkyHiFi]

In the last week all kinds of stuff has been happening with this XCP copy protection software issue.........

I think Sony will be getting themselves into some deep legal doodoo with this stunt.

* And they are! There have already been class action lawsuits filed against them.

* it turns out this shitty piece of secret software also "phones home" to Sony.

* while it looks like a lot of the affected titles are for older people, there are albums in there younger persons would buy too: one Internet expert a few days ago did a careful search of the 'Net and found that by tracing the "phone home" signal, so far 568,000 computers have been infected with this garbage.

* here's a quote by Thoma Hesse, president of Sony Global Digital Business, said during an interview with NPR that gives you an idea of what Sony thinks of their customers-unbelievable:

“Most people, I think, don’t even know what a rootkit is, so why should they care about it?”

Look up the definition of corporate arrogance, and I'll bet his picture will be there.

* Sony has FINALLY published an official list of titles infected with the XCP software & also have said they will exhange them for uninfected versions, click here.

* The following is a detailed, but purposely non-technical, USA Today article that helps explain this issue & why Regular Joe people should be aware of it:

"Sony: The rootkit of all evil?"

Here's a maddening excerpt from it concerning the software patch Sony released in response to all the criticism:

But as word spread, first among blogs and then to the mainstream media, the company reluctantly released a patch program that closed the [security] hidey-hole.

Sounds reasonable, if a bit slow. But it wasn't.

Get this: In order to get the patch, you have to provide your name, e-mail address, and other personal information to Sony. When you finally download the thing, it does the patch thing, and then it installs all sorts of new stuff that Sony doesn't tell you about.

And it continues to send your listening habits to Sony and its partners, but now it has a bunch of your personal information too.

But wait. Incredibly, there's more.

The patch itself, it turns out, opens another big security hole. If you install it, it includes a program called "CodeSupport." The programmers who slapped this thing together designed it so any website could access CodeSupport on your computer to do things to it.

In other words, if you go to a bad guy's site after installing the Sony patch, a hidden program on that site could look for CodeSupport, and could do all sorts of nasty things to your.

The whole thing has gotten so bad that the original XCP software (which had the rootkit), the patch Sony BMG released, and the new software installed by the patch are all classified as Trojans by Computer Associates' security division in its Spyware Encyclopedia.

None of this, of course, is what you agree to when you click "Accept" to play the Sony CD.

(What do you agree to? Among other things, you agree not to play the CD at work, to install any update Sony asks you to (and not to hold the company liable if it damages your system), and, oddly enough, to delete all the music if you file for bankruptcy.)

Wow.

[ASsman]

I piss on SONY.

I just hope to hear a response from the nerd community.. i.e "Sony servers downed by hackers, millions lost" , etc.

This is pretty much where companies are going, don't be suprised. It's just Sony didn't take the gradual road to stripping you of your privacy.

[jabumbo]

doesnt that shit just start up when you try to rip the disc?

[ASsman]

Re-read.........slowly.


Edit---

Sony henchmen will also run around pillaging your PC's and raping you're women,or stealing your porn whichever applies...

[abcdefz]

Maybe somebody mentioned this, but....

Sony has agreed to stop manufacturing CDs with the rootkit (the apologea I read was pretty limp); but whatever CDs are out there for sale are out there and won't be recalled. What I read said nothing about assigning new catolog numbers to the spyware-free CDs, so... if you want it, you takes your chances.

If I were one of the companies, do what ELO did in the '70's -- sue the record company for flooding the market with defective "records." I'm sure that has to hurt CD sales -- knowing that you may or may not wind up buying a CD that could potentially wreck your computer.

[FunkyHiFi]

Now TEXAS is suing Sony/BMG over this!!

Sony/BMG gets into even deeper doodoo

excerpt from the above article:

AUSTIN, Texas Nov 21, 2005 — Sony BMG Music Entertainment's troubles over anti-piracy technology on music CDs deepened Monday as Texas' attorney general and a California-based digital rights group said they were suing the music company under new state anti-spyware laws.

The Texas lawsuit said the so-called XCP technology that Sony BMG had quietly included on more than 50 CD titles leaves computers vulnerable to hackers. Sony BMG had added the technology to restrict to three the number of times a single disc could be copied, but agreed to recall the discs last week after a storm of criticism.

AND the Electronic Frontier Foundation is doing the same thing!

"EFF Files Class Action Lawsuit Against Sony BMG"

[FunkyHiFi]

A warning about ANOTHER Sony/BMG screwed-up piece of copy protection!!!

"CONSUMER ADVISORY"

and

"CDs Containing SunnComm MediaMax Version 5 Content Protection Software"

This kind of greedy corporate crap just encourages more theft of music via the Internet and makes it harder for musicians to make a living from something they love to do. BTW: only a tiny percentage of musicians live in mansions and drive customized Hummers: financially speaking, most live middle-to-lower class lives, and many have to have a second "real" job to help pay their bills. **see signature**

[franscar]

Originally Posted by FunkyHiFi

A warning about ANOTHER Sony/BMG screwed-up piece of copy protection!!!

"CONSUMER ADVISORY"

and

"CDs Containing SunnComm MediaMax Version 5 Content Protection Software"

This kind of greedy corporate crap just encourages more theft of music via the Internet and makes it harder for musicians to make a living from something they love to do. BTW: only a tiny percentage of musicians live in mansions and drive customized Hummers: financially speaking, most live middle-to-lower class lives, and many have to have a second "real" job to help pay their bills. **see signature**

I was actually thinking of buying a couple of those albums. Now I am not. Thanks for the heads up.

[FunkyHiFi]

Originally Posted by franscar

I was actually thinking of buying a couple of those albums. Now I am not. Thanks for the heads up.

No problem. And, I love reporting when big companies like this screw up.

[ASsman]

I really hope this effects their Q4 profits GREATLY.


Bastids.