[atlantaprog] Re: They're evil I tell you! Just plain evil!

Followup:
   
  
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051112/ap_on_hi_te/sony_copy_protection;_ylt=AuJuTePVW1nkqtJU41lZEa1k24cA;_ylu=X3oDMTA3cjE0b2MwBHNlYwM3Mzg-

Allen Welty-Green <agmedia@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
  Watch out, Sony?s CDs spy on you
Posted online: Saturday, November 12, 2005 at 0000 hours IST

 Sony is spying on thousands of listeners who buy and play its music 
CDs on their computers, a leading computer security firm said recently.

Computer Associates International Inc. said that new anti-copying 
software Sony is using to discourage pirating of its music also 
secretly collects information from any computer that plays the discs.

One of the world?s largest software and information technology 
companies, Computer Associates is the latest to wade into the growing 
controversy over Sony?s efforts to curb theft and illegal pirating of 
its music.

The software works only on computers running Microsoft Corp.?s Windows 
operating system. It limits listeners? ability to copy the music onto 
their computers, and locks copied files so they cannot be freely 
distributed over the internet.

But Computer Associates said the anti-pirating software also secretly 
communicates with Sony over the Internet when listeners play the discs 
on computers that have an Internet connection. The software uses this 
connection to transmit the name of the CD being played to an office of 
Sony?s music division in Cary, NC. The software also transmits the IP 
address of the listener?s computer, Computer Associates said, but not 
the name of the listener. But Sony can still use the data to create a 
profile of a listener?s music collection, according to Computer 
Associates.

??This is in effect ?phone home? technology, whether its intent is to 
capture such data or not,?? said Sam Curry, vice president of Computer 
Associates? eTrust Security Management unit.

??If you choose to let people know what you?re listening to, that?s 
your business. If they do it without your permission, it?s an invasion 
of privacy.??

Sony and the British firm that wrote the anti-pirating code for the 
music company flatly denied the software snoops on listeners.

??We don?t receive any spyware information, any consumer information,?? 
said Mathew Gilliat-Smith, chief executive of First 4 Internet Ltd., 
which makes the software for Sony BMG Music Entertainment.

So far, Sony BMG has installed the software on about 20 titles in its 
music catalog, including works by jazzman Dexter Gordon, singer Vivian 
Green, and the new issue by country rockers Van Zant, ??Get Right with 
the Man??.

It was the Van Zant disc that led to the controversy over Sony?s new 
software. In late October, a well-known Windows computer engineer, Mark 
Russinovich, stumbled across the Sony software on one of his personal 
computers while running a security scan. Russinovich had used the 
computer to play the Van Zant CD, not realising that it had installed 
the anti-copying program.

When he tried to remove it, Russinovich found that the program lacked 
the ??uninstall?? feature found in most Windows software. Indeed, key 
components of the software hid themselves deep in his computer by 
applying the same techniques used by data thieves to conceal their 
activities. Even a skilled user who identifies the correct files can?t 
safely remove them, said Russinovich.

??Most users that stumble across the cloaked files ... will cripple 
their computer if they attempt the obvious step of deleting the cloaked 
files,??he wrote on his technology website, SysInternals.

Computer Associates Monday concurred with Russinovich?s assessment. 
Curry said Sony has made it so difficult for listeners to uninstall its 
software that some could lose all their data in the process.

??It can damage the operating system and the operating system?s 
integrity, ?? Curry said. ??As an expert in security, I can say this is 
bad behavior.?? Indeed, Computer Associates has added the software to 
its list of spyware programs that collect personal information from 
users without permission.

?Hiawatha Bray / NY TIMES  


                
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