Sony Shoots Its Own Foot, Keeps Shooting
Things keep getting worse and worse over the Sony music CD security problems that came out a while back.
Sony has now promised to recall all the CDs protected with this software, and offer exchanges for people who already bought the CDs. But the software they send people to uninstall their hack stays on the computer once the job is done, and it turns out that the uninstaller also bypasses all security checks in Internet Explorer, giving remote hackers the ability to do anything to your computer that they want. Users who have the Sony software should wait for anti-virus and anti-spyware vendors (like Microsoft) to add XCP to their virus signatures. (Be warned, though; Sony may be claiming otherwise regarding Microsoft’s perception of the Sony software.)
The original album which prompted the scandal is getting hammered in the Amazon reviews section; their manager is on record begging for a recall to repair the band’s reputation.
On the legal front, Sony may be facing criminal charges in Europe, both for their copy protection and their predatory pricing. There’s a chance that Sony could be criminally liable in the USA as well if their virus infects government computers.
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[...] What a mess. I was going to give details, but my friend Jeff has beat me to it. I’m just glad they’ve pulled the CDs. I love music. I listen quite a lot, and deeply enjoy the various flavors brought by different artists and genres. I would be a tremendous music consumer if the RIAA folks would just get back to the business of connecting the artists with the fans, instead of trying to capture and dominate both. At this point, I feel like buying new CDs is a lot like giving cash to a begger — I’m not sure it’s really helping anybody. Comments » [...]