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

They're just sore that they got caught!

On Nov 12, 2005, at 11:26 AM, BK Broyla wrote:

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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