Maybe Sony's Strategy Is To Convince You To Never Use A CD In A Computer
from the oh,-sorry-about-that dept
The Sony rootkit saga continues. While the company released a patch that only took off the cloaking ability, but didn't actually help uninstall the software they surreptitiously installed, it seems that there are plenty of other problems with the "patch" as well. Ed Felten noted yesterday that there's a lot of other stuff in the patch, which Sony doesn't bother to tell anyone about. And, obviously, at this point, hearing Sony say "trust us, it's fine" isn't particularly reassuring. On top of that, the original researcher who discovered the rootkit has found that the patch could crash Windows on some computers. The chances are apparently pretty small, but they're there. The other thing he discovered is that, once again just like spyware products, the copy protection phones home to Sony, potentially passing on information, such as your IP address. To be fair, it doesn't look like it's doing anything bad when it phones home (just checking for updated lyrics and album art), but Sony certainly doesn't reveal anywhere that this action is happening, which should only raise more questions about why anyone should ever feel safe using a SonyBMG CD again. Of course, maybe that's the point. The record labels have regretted for years that CDs now play on computers (it was an afterthought to them), because that's what opened up this whole file sharing concept in the first place -- and, so now they're trying to make people think that CDs don't belong in your CD-ROM drive, and delivering sneaky malware might just be one way to get that point across.Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
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No Subject Given
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Re: No Subject Given--Plus workaround for you lame
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Re: No Subject Given--Plus workaround for you lame
hhmmm. I think I'm going to call my broker and invest in KVM switches... Those are going to be HOT this Christmas
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Re: No Subject Given--Plus workaround for you lame
Propose solutions instead of bicker about others' ideas.
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Re: No Subject Given--Plus workaround for you lame
No KVMs required. And yeah, actually, installation can be very easy. Some of them will do the repartitioning for you, safely, and have a 'minimal' option; others are just a CD you boot with, and require no install at all.
There are options before you, if you'll let yourself see them.
Having said that, I do have a whack of old stuff here, and a KVM, so that's what I'll be using, but only because I develop on Linux and had the machine set up already.
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Re: No Subject Given--Plus workaround for you lame
If she can do it, you really have no excuse, now, do you?
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Re: No Subject Given--Plus workaround for you lame
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Re: No Subject Given--Plus workaround for you lame
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Re: No Subject Given
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thats why..
idiots.
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No Subject Given
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No Subject Given
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Re: No Subject Given
Shame on them, but shame on us for thinking we are better if we employ a "work-around" that makes our property useable.
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Sony is killing themselves
Email users are trained to not open attachments from people they don't know. Now, music lovers will be trained to download songs from Sony's catalog of artists instead of buying the cds and inflicting harm on their PC.
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Re: Sony is killing themselves
In fact, this weekend I purchased a competitor's Plasma TV over a Sony, just in principle. Screw 'em.
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No Subject Given
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Re: No Subject Given
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Stop buying CDs
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comment on sony spyware
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Re: comment on sony spyware
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Re: comment on sony spyware
No need to sneak it in and put in measures to prevent its removal...
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Re: comment on sony spyware
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Re: Re: comment on sony spyware
If Linux sucks then obviously you are not mature enough to use it! Either that or not smart enough to spend some time with it and experiment!
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Re: comment on sony spyware
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Re: comment on sony spyware
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why should they need to anyway?
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iTUNES
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Class action?
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Re: Class action?
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lol!!!!!!!!!
2 hours later, my comp starts making a poping noise, and i hear a loud shattering crack... i open my cd rom drive and to my dismay, the cd is no longer whole, but has been replaced with 100000 million little plastic peices... i found it rather amusing
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What?
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No Subject Given
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SECRET CONSUMER CONTROL
Actually it's not a crusade against us......
Its a war waged to CONTROL the consumer. A far worse and more sinister campaign.
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