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Mediaman_12 · 10:34 AM

Ok so according to this article (and the linked thread over at Security focus) thre is a nasty autorun prog on the Beastie Boys 'To the Five Boroughs' CD. Like me you are probbaly thinking this only affects XP, with it's dumb autorun.inf 'feature', but no acording to both articles it affecs Mac's too.
How is this. The only 'Autorun' feature we ever had was the Quicktime run thing, which is now disabled by default since that 'Autostart Worm' outbreak. The only thing OSX will do on insertion of an Audio CD is launce iTunes and list the tracks, no files get automatically started from the CD.

wataru · Jun 23, 2004, 10:19 AM

That copy protection mechanism has been known for a long time (and so has the workaround). There was an article on slashdot just a couple days ago with more info on this particular CD.

I think the consensus is that there is no way for it to run the program on OS X.

Cipher13 · Jun 23, 2004, 12:20 PM

Pirate the CD and take it back, claiming it's faulty. Make a stand against such ********.

akuma-x · Jun 23, 2004, 01:26 PM

Originally posted by Mediaman_12:
Ok so according to this article (and the linked thread over at Security focus) thre is a nasty autorun prog on the Beastie Boys 'To the Five Boroughs' CD. Like me you are probbaly thinking this only affects XP, with it's dumb autorun.inf 'feature', but no acording to both articles it affecs Mac's too.
How is this. The only 'Autorun' feature we ever had was the Quicktime run thing, which is now disabled by default since that 'Autostart Worm' outbreak. The only thing OSX will do on insertion of an Audio CD is launce iTunes and list the tracks, no files get automatically started from the CD.

Well,
1. I would not really call it a virus.
2. It is only in CD's distributed through EMI. (USA and UK CD's are fine).
3. I think people are blown this whole thing out of the water. All EMI CD's have had this stuff in them. It's not new.
4. Just do not buy CD's from EMI.

Randman · Jun 23, 2004, 01:28 PM

Buy it at the iTMS and don't worry about the other junk.

mishap · Jun 23, 2004, 02:09 PM

Originally posted by Randman:
Buy it at the iTMS and don't worry about the other junk.

You know people probably would if they didnt want the cd inserts and such. Some of us still use vinyl--err--i mean cds.

Brass · Jun 23, 2004, 07:22 PM

A virus is self-propogating. This sounds more like a trojan horse.

Chuckit · Jun 23, 2004, 07:27 PM

To my understanding, this autorun program is not really harmful in any way. It's apparently just a media player that the record company puts on all its CDs. It's mainly just disturbing.

bmedina · Jun 23, 2004, 08:37 PM

Originally posted by Randman:
Buy it at the iTMS and don't worry about the other junk.

The problem is that the CD employs a form of DRM. All the files on iTunes also employ DRM, so that is not a solution.

Socially Awkward Solo · Jun 23, 2004, 08:57 PM

Originally posted by Randman:
Buy it at the iTMS and don't worry about the other junk.

You do realize the it costs almost double on iTMS.

Big Mac · Jun 24, 2004, 05:11 AM

I've got a better idea: just forget about purchasing the refuse altogether.

Randman · Jun 24, 2004, 05:39 AM

Originally posted by Socially Awkward Solo:
You do realize the it costs almost double on iTMS.

Where can you get it for $7.40?

chris v · Jun 24, 2004, 08:16 AM

Try to bear in mind that id it ships with DRM or some kind of crippling, it's not a CD. Phillips owns the rights to the term Compact Disc, and has refused to license the term to companies attempting to ad DRM, since it violates redbook standards.

Absolutely return it as defective.

CV

Babar · Jun 24, 2004, 01:11 PM

I personaly buy a lot of CDs, a couple of them are DRM protected cds and I never had any problem whatsoever to import them into iTunes on my mac. I also happen to have the exact CD you're talking about, the new beastie and it went fine too.

This is probably just a windows thing

absmiths · Jun 24, 2004, 01:36 PM

Originally posted by Babar:
This is probably just a windows thing

On the other hand, the article states that some features will not be available without use of their crap, so does that mean that Mac users will never see those features?

typoon · Jun 24, 2004, 02:19 PM

Originally posted by bmedina:
The problem is that the CD employs a form of DRM. All the files on iTunes also employ DRM, so that is not a solution.

While that is true it doesn't stop you from Burning it to CD then Re-ripping it as many times as you want without putting anything else on your machine.

Babar · Jun 24, 2004, 02:46 PM

Originally posted by absmiths:
On the other hand, the article states that some features will not be available without use of their crap, so does that mean that Mac users will never see those features?

This is pure marketing, by feature they mean some crappy app that links to a public website, this is a feature according to them. This is the same kind of thing that you get on DVDs known as DVD-Rom content, you don't really want to see it

Socially Awkward Solo · Jun 24, 2004, 05:10 PM

Originally posted by Randman:
Where can you get it for $7.40?

You can easily find it for $9 in a store. Beasts a download for $6 more.

CatOne · Jun 24, 2004, 06:09 PM

Originally posted by Mediaman_12:
Ok so according to this article (and the linked thread over at Security focus) thre is a nasty autorun prog on the Beastie Boys 'To the Five Boroughs' CD. Like me you are probbaly thinking this only affects XP, with it's dumb autorun.inf 'feature', but no acording to both articles it affecs Mac's too.
How is this. The only 'Autorun' feature we ever had was the Quicktime run thing, which is now disabled by default since that 'Autostart Worm' outbreak. The only thing OSX will do on insertion of an Audio CD is launce iTunes and list the tracks, no files get automatically started from the CD.

Yeah, except the version that ships in the US and the UK doesn't have that protection on it.

bmedina · Jun 24, 2004, 07:35 PM

Originally posted by typoon:
While that is true it doesn't stop you from Burning it to CD then Re-ripping it as many times as you want without putting anything else on your machine.

That's not the point, though. Technically, ripping the CD is not a problem, as others have stated. The issue is with DRM. Do you really want to support a company that treats its paying customers as criminals?

Offering the iTunes Music Store as an alternative does not address the issue.

Some Guy [] · Jun 25, 2004, 06:46 AM

Originally posted by Brass:
A virus is self-propogating. This sounds more like a trojan horse.

wrong that's a worm.

-justin

absmiths · Jun 25, 2004, 09:22 AM

Originally posted by bmedina:
That's not the point, though. Technically, ripping the CD is not a problem, as others have stated. The issue is with DRM. Do you really want to support a company that treats its paying customers as criminals?

Offering the iTunes Music Store as an alternative does not address the issue.

On the other hand, at least Apple is up front in communicating what they do, how they do it, and exactly what your rights are. This new technology tries to be covert and subvert possible illegal behavior. I am not against any DRM - I just think it shouldn't bother legitimate users and iTMS DRM is as flexible as I need it to be.

absmiths · Jun 25, 2004, 09:27 AM

Originally posted by Some Guy []:
wrong that's a worm.

-justin

I think you are both wrong. A classical virus can be spread by passing a floppy from computer to computer - the spreading action is driven by a user. A worm, on the other hand, once it has infected a machine, is capable of massive propogation with no further user intervention.

Given that this malware spreads by CD, I would say it is closer to a non-destructive (except for crippling computer function) CD-borne virus.