Class Action Lawsuit On The Way For Sony's Rootkit
from the but,-there-are-other-issues-too dept
Probably not a huge surprise at all, but following Sony's rootkit fiasco, lawyers are already swarming and a class action lawsuit is expected any day now. It's unclear if they'll be going after other record labels that use identical technology. The article notes that there are legal problems on both sides of the equation. While Sony probably runs afoul of a bunch of laws (the same ones used to go after adware firms), users who are uninstalling the rootkit may be breaking the DMCA, which prevent circumvention of any type of copy protection. In other words, the whole thing is a big mess, and, as in other class action lawsuits, the only ones who will really benefit are the lawyers. Update: Aha. The lawsuits are already starting.
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No Subject Given
http://www.alcei.org/index.php/archives/105
The first lawsuit comes from ALCEI, the Italian chapter of EFF. It is not a lawsuit, in that it does not ask for a sentence.
Rather, it is an official complaint to the Guardia di Finanza (Italian fiscal police force, the competent police for fraud complaints) about Sonu's behavior (regarding the CD “Get right with the man” by Van Zant), objecting to Sony's attitude of taking the law in their own hand ("si fa arbitrariamente ragione da sé medesimo") by "altering, modifying or deleting a software program", or by "preventing or disturbing the working of a computer system".
ALCEI is asking for formal investigation, asking the Guardia di Finanza to identify whose is the actual author of such DRM system, who decided on its specific working mechanism, who decided on its diffusion mechanism, whether it is also available and present in products on sales in Italy, whether other companies are using such mechanism, whether any offence has been committed in Italy or by individuals operating in Italy.
Just one guy (proud, once in a while, of being Italian)
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Translated link from Just one guy
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users who are uninstalling the rootkit may be brea
What came first, the chicken or the egg? I believe that in this scenario, most everyone knows the answer to this age-old question.
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Re: users who are uninstalling the rootkit may be
That boils my blood. IP has gotten so absolutely crazy as to render common sence insignificant. If Sont installs malware on a system unbeknownst to the operator, that's a crime.
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Re: users who are uninstalling the rootkit may be
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Pirates are Safe
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No Subject Given
But that's not the point. What matters is not who profits from the suit, but who pays. The point is to penalize Sony to the degree that they don't do this anymore. It needs to be demonstrated that this sort of malicious DRM isn't profitable. A large financial judgement against Sony might help, and serve as an example for others.
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SonySuit.com tracks Sony XCP Class Action Lawsuits
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