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alphasubzero949 · Nov 10, 2005, 01:05 PM

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/11...ny_drm_trojan/

I wonder how the anti-virus industry is going to label this one.

typoon · Nov 10, 2005, 01:08 PM

I just posted right after you did. GO figure.

ThinkInsane · Nov 10, 2005, 01:17 PM

Sony really screwed the pooch on this one. For the first time, I find myself wondering "Do I really need the products distributed by a company like this?". It's also made me reevaluate my position on DRM; where as I used to find it mildly annoying, I now find myself against it and all it's forms.

At this point I would rather steal the music as opposed to spending my hard earned money to allow some corporation to invade my machine, violate my privacy, and leave the thing open to untraceable viruses and trojans. No thanks Sony, **** you.

ghporter · Nov 10, 2005, 01:27 PM

I like BMG. And Warner. And even Capitol. But I'm staying away from any new Sony-labeled stuff. CD Exchange, here I come! (And yes, I know what the RIAA and probably Sony execs think about buying used CDs-that's one reason I do it!)

effgee · Nov 10, 2005, 01:38 PM

Originally Posted by alphasubzero949

... I wonder how the anti-virus industry is going to label this one.

Not only does this virtual pest boil pave the way for a "new" way of hiding poopware (trojans, etc.), it also phones home. And while the first class-action lawsuit has been filed against Sony in CA, Sony/BMG announced today that it'll be including their XPC DRM-software on CDs sold in Europe beginning early next year.

Fudge-

-s, the lot of them.

effgee · Nov 10, 2005, 01:54 PM

Originally Posted by ghporter

I like BMG. ...

At least as far as music is concerned, BMG is Sony is Bertelsmann is Sony, etc. The footer on the home page of Sony Music USA (www.sonymusic.com) states: "Copyright © 2005 SONY BMG MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT"

Railroader · Nov 10, 2005, 10:25 PM

Originally Posted by ThinkInsane

Sony really screwed the pooch on this one. For the first time, I find myself wondering "Do I really need the products distributed by a company like this?". It's also made me reevaluate my position on DRM; where as I used to find it mildly annoying, I now find myself against it and all it's forms.

At this point I would rather steal the music as opposed to spending my hard earned money to allow some corporation to invade my machine, violate my privacy, and leave the thing open to untraceable viruses and trojans. No thanks Sony, **** you.

I am in the market for a new TV. I was looking at the Sony HDTV LCD TVs, but now they are off my list. Probably get a Phillips, Sharp, or someother brand now.

Yup, Sony is shooting them selves int he foot on this one.

Salty · Nov 11, 2005, 12:10 AM

Sony's been off my list since the Playstation the only money they'll be getting from me is for the next Switchfoot CD which if it's only available with this sort of DRM will be being pirated by myself.

alphasubzero949 · Nov 11, 2005, 05:54 AM

Guess what? Sony has hidden DRM for the Mac as well.

Looks like a Sony BMG CD asking for an admin password after sticking it in isn't so innocent anymore.

Busemann · Nov 11, 2005, 06:33 AM

I love how the DRM company advertises its OSX compatibility:

For the first time, content can be played and protected on a Mac with the same experience enjoyed on a PC

Finally!

Dork. · Dec 6, 2005, 02:18 PM

News.com had something interesting here. It's in a silly blog format that doesn't say much of anything, but links to this post at freedom-to-tinker.com which explains why Sony may have had that itunes DRM decryption code in their rootkit. It seems that the decryption process and the encryption process are similar enough that the same code will do both, with some tweaking. And this enteprising hacker has found out that there's a function embedded in the rootkit that will take an ordinary MP3 file and "turn it into" a protected AAC file. This code isn't called by anything in the rootkit, but it's there, and anyone with a debugger can use it to turn an ordinary MP3 into something that looks, to iTunes, like it's protected AAC.

So, Sony was distributing software that actively screws with Apple's FairPlay DRM scheme, not to crack it necessarily, but to put its own music on the iPod in a protected format without Apple's blessing. At the same time, they are distributing the same code that could be used to decrypt Apple FairPlay songs into unprotected AAC files, including those sold by Sony. Is it a DMCA violation to distribute software to circumvent access controls to content you own?

They were probably going to blackmail Apple into licensing FairPlay by threatening to activate millions of zombie computers that could have encoded any arbitrary media file from any source into the Apple Protected format, making Sony CD's "iPod-compatible" without having to convert the songs into unencumbered MP3 of AAC first, and turning Sony into an iTMS clone. Heh. There's gotta be a lawsuit in there somewhere.

Weyland-Yutani · Dec 6, 2005, 02:28 PM

Originally Posted by effgee

Not only does this virtual pest boil pave the way for a "new" way of hiding poopware (trojans, etc.), it also phones home. And while the first class-action lawsuit has been filed against Sony in CA, Sony/BMG announced today that it'll be including their XPC DRM-software on CDs sold in Europe beginning early next year.

Fudge-

-s, the lot of them.

Sony are a bunch of bastards. However they've recalled all the DRMed CDs in the US, no? I suspect they will have to back out of this in EU too.

Also remember Steve Jobs wanted Apple to become the Sony of the computer industry for a while. Then he decided he wanted Apple to become the Apple of the computer industry.

A wise choice.

cheers

W-Y

Mastrap · Dec 6, 2005, 02:44 PM

Originally Posted by Railroader

I am in the market for a new TV. I was looking at the Sony HDTV LCD TVs, but now they are off my list. Probably get a Phillips, Sharp, or someother brand now.

Yup, Sony is shooting them selves int he foot on this one.

We were looking for a kitchen TV a couple of weeks back. The Sony model looked nice, but in the end we decided on a Toshiba. Sony won't be seeing any of my money anytime soon.

Severed Hand of Skywalker · Dec 6, 2005, 02:46 PM

This is why I never buy any sort of copy protected CD.

ghporter · Dec 6, 2005, 05:52 PM

Originally Posted by Severed Hand of Skywalker

This is why I never buy any sort of copy protected CD.

That's a good policy. This debacle is costing Sony a LOT of money; they're making UNPROTECTED CDs available (at least to Texans, due to the state suing the company) along with MP3s of the songs, they've posted uninstallers for the code, they say they're working with the AV companies to properly protect users who they've hacked, and they're basically bowing and scraping and saying "we're very, very sorry" all over the place because of their ham-handed copy protection effort. AND I see anyone who manages to get bit by the trojan that ties into the copy protection code as having some hellacious grounds for lawsuits against them.