Cyber-rights group the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) claimed
on Wednesday to have identified 19 Sony CDs that contain a rootkit-like application that disguises its copy-restriction technology.This software is hard to remove from a PC without causing damage and can be used to hide malicious code — antivirus vendors warned on Thursday afternoon the first malware to exploit it has been found.
The discovery of the rootkit last week kicked off a furore, but Sony has not said which CDs contain the DRM technology in question.
According to the EFF, the following CDs contain the DRM in question:
- Trey Anastasio, Shine (Columbia)
- Celine Dion, On ne Change Pas (Epic)
- Neil Diamond, 12 Songs (Columbia)
- Our Lady Peace, Healthy in Paranoid Times (Columbia)
- Chris Botti, To Love Again (Columbia)
- Van Zant, Get Right with the Man (Columbia)
- Switchfoot, Nothing is Sound (Columbia)
- The Coral, The Invisible Invasion (Columbia)
- Acceptance, Phantoms (Columbia)
- Susie Suh, Susie Suh (Epic)
- Amerie, Touch (Columbia)
- Life of Agony, Broken Valley (Epic)
- Horace Silver Quintet, Silver's Blue (Epic Legacy)
- Gerry Mulligan, Jeru (Columbia Legacy)
- Dexter Gordon, Manhattan Symphonie (Columbia Legacy)
- The Bad Plus, Suspicious Activity (Columbia)
- The Dead 60s, The Dead 60s (Epic)
- Dion, The Essential Dion (Columbia Legacy)
- Natasha Bedingfield, Unwritten (Epic)
The EFF says it's likely that other CDs also contain the application, although Sony told ZDNet UK last week that discs containing this DRM software had not been distributed in the UK.
The EFF took a dim view on Sony's actions. "Entertainment companies often complain that fans refuse to respect their intellectual property rights. Yet tools like this refuse to respect our own personal property rights," said EFF staff attorney Jason Schultz in a statement. "Sony's tactics here are hypocritical, in addition to being a security threat," Schultz added.
Talkback
"Not distributed in the UK"
Yeah, right ... here's one, picked at random - how many others?
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0002LNB9Y/026-7592254-6806006
"Not distributed in the UK" - I think sony a re issuing different pressings to different regions deliberatly so that they can track usage - they are gathering valuable data from consumers, but we have to PAY to send them it? Get real Sony.
I was going to buy a PSP for Christmas, and a PS3 later but I won't be bothering now.
If you want to buy a decent next-gen console then you have to buy Sony or Microsoft. I'm giving up gaming (and getting a life).
It now seems that if yoy buy a Céline Dion CD, you have to have your PC checked as well as your brains!
Sony are stupid, stupid, stupid. As a Sony fan who adores their kit I think they have shot themselves in the foot pretty badly on this one.
But please don't boycott the PS3 and PSP - they will still sell like hot potatoes and you won't really achieve anything, and as a PSP owner I can honestly say it's the best thing since sliced bread.
I think the pigeons will soon come home to roost without our intervention. Boycot CDs by all means, but don't let them spoil your enjoyment of what are after all excellent consumer electronics.
DBS = Don't Buy SONY
Just say "NO" to Sony.
I didn't invest thousands of dollars in IT equipment in order to provide Sony-BMG or any other company, a free base from which to promulgate internet terrorist activities. From now on, I will buy absolutely NO products from Sony.
I strongly urge anyone who wishes to avoid becoming a Sony drone, to take the same action, and to advise Sony of their choice. I still believe Sony won't learn anything from this episode except how to be sneakier and even more unethical in their practices concerning consumers.
I may be a consumer all my life, but I will not pay Sony to use me as a pawn in their evil schemes.
Méfiez-vous des gens qui se méfient.
(Be wary of wary people.)
timt