Sony's Rootkit Infringes On Copyright?

from the well-look-at-that dept

Look, we really, really want to stop writing about Sony BMG's damn rootkit, but when they keep doing ridiculous things or as more scary info comes out about it, it's almost impossible to resist. The company brought this on itself -- and its reaction so far certainly leaves them open to the continued criticism as more info comes out (and we're not even going to get into the discovery that Sony's copy protection uninstaller is open to malware writers to misuse as well). The latest, found on Boing Boing, is that the rootkit technology itself has copyright infringing code taken from LAME, the open source mp3 encoder -- which has a clear copyright license, requiring certain things, none of which Sony BMG/First4Internet follows. Yes, the irony is thick: this technology that Sony BMG still claims is necessary to protect its intellectual property, apparently violates other's intellectual property. Good work, Sony BMG and First4Internet. You've succeeded in making a mockery of your own technology.
Hide this

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.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team


Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread


  • identicon
    SV, 14 Nov 2005 @ 1:52am

    Sony BMG: "Trust us, oops... trust us again though

    This story is no longer scary or dramatic.

    It's totally a sitcom, brought free by the folks at F4I and Sony BMG. Thanks guys!

    Sit and enjoy.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anarchy_Creator, 14 Nov 2005 @ 2:41am

    LMAOOMFGROFLLOLERWAFFLESWTFBBQ

    That is the funniest thing I have heard of in a good long time.
    They steal the code from a program that's not only good for saving tracks / making copies of your old scratched up CD's, but also used for illegally pirating perfect copies of them on the Internet to create a program designed to keep you from pirating their CD's on the Internet.
    I do so hope that EAC sues them for copyright infringement.
    That would be a court case I would almost kill to be on the jury for.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Michael "TheZorch" Haney, 14 Nov 2005 @ 6:42am

    This Crap is Funny!

    It gets better and better.

    This whole mess with Sony/BMG is giving DRM in general a bad name. Nobody is going to use DRM infected products, companies are going to whine and cry that they aren't making enough money so they'll blame the P2P services as always. They'll sue more people and make the customers feel even more alienaged and angry.

    Its sad really, but we're seeing the beginnings of something that I HOPE will result in either a major shift in how the RIAA does business or the death of the RIAA as a whole...and the death of DRM along with them.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Arnie, 23 Feb 2009 @ 12:59am

    Good site

    link to this | view in chronology ]


Follow Techdirt
Essential Reading
Techdirt Deals
Report this ad  |  Hide Techdirt ads
Techdirt Insider Discord

The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...

Loading...
Recent Stories

This site, like most other sites on the web, uses cookies. For more information, see our privacy policy. Got it
Close

Email This

This feature is only available to registered users. Register or sign in to use it.