Boycott Sony

[Provost Harrison]

I'll put my money is if it is worth it. I 'acquired' civ 4 before release, but I have a legitimate copy sat here now (shame I don't currently have a functioning DVD drive, but a new one should arrive tomorrow am )

[Ming]

Originally posted by Sava


do you object to what I do?

my trying before I buy?

Actually... yes I do. But that is only a matter of opinion.
But at least you might actually buy it if you like it.

What really gets me is all the people out their who justify total theft with their bull crap lines and will NEVER pay for something they can steal. These same people would never steal from a store, but throw out all these arguments on why it's ok to steal in a situation where they know they won't be caught.

[SlowwHand]

It's not about pirated software.
That may be what caught your mind's eye, but there's much more to it than that.

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by Asher
The PS3 is loaded up with all kinds of DRM, and Blu-Ray (what Sony backs over HD-DVD) has unprecedented amounts of DRM also.

I see that you agree that DRM is bad news.

[GhengisFarbâ„¢]

I still think its hilarious that the gaming community figured out a way to use this Sony hiding system to hide their cheats from World of Warcraft's warden client.

[conmcb25]

They make crappy MMORPG's as well. Time to totally boycott em

[Urban Ranger]

Oops!

Virus writers have begun taking advantage of Sony-BMG's use of rootkit technology in DRM software bundled with its music CDs.

Sony-BMG's rootkit DRM technology masks files whose filenames start with "$sys$". A newly-discovered variant of of the Breplibot Trojan takes advantage of this to drop the file "$sys$drv.exe" in the Windows system directory.

"This means, that for systems infected by the Sony DRM rootkit technology, the dropped file is entirely invisible to the user. It will not be found in any process and file listing. Only rootkit scanners, such as the free utility RootkitRevealer, can unmask the culprit," warns Ivan Macalintal, a senior threat analyst at security firm Trend Micro

First Trojan using Sony DRM spotted

Isn't this cute?

Microsoft (for leaving this hole in)
Sony

[Provost Harrison]

It's really shocking, and is almost a decisive factor in my decision to move away from buying CDs (especially as I have been caught by CDs in the past which just won't play on my PC). If they're going to f**k with me, I'm going to f**k them right back!

[laurentius]

Sony's made a huge mistake with this rootkit mess...they should admit their mistake and exercise some damage control now that the first trojans been spotted too....

But overall its a good company

[Urban Ranger]

Another kind of oops

Calif. Lawsuit Targets Sony

A class-action lawsuit has been filed on behalf of California consumers who may have been harmed by anti-piracy software installed by some Sony music CDs. A second, nationwide class-action lawsuit is expected to be filed against Sony in a New York court on Wednesday seeking relief for all U.S. consumers who have purchased any of the 20 music CDs in question.

Experts say the Sony CDs use virus-like techniques to install digital rights management software on computers. Windows users cannot listen to the protected CDs on their computers without first installing the software, which hides itself on the users' system and cannot be uninstalled by conventional removal methods.

[emphasis my own]

Sony did that on 20 different CD's?! They deserve to be sued.

[laurentius]

I think its just hyenas smelling an easy victim.

[Dinner]

It is a full on violation of California's anti-soyware/anti-malwar law.

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by Oerdin
It is a full on violation of California's anti-soyware/anti-malwar law.

Soyware? I didn't know they make clothes and stuff from soy beans. What has California got against that?

[Eroberer]

I think this rootkit mess is both good and bad. Bad, because it's sneaky and illegal. Good because it solves all of the tough decisions that I was going to have make on buying Sony products. Bye bye PS3 and crap.

To display my anger, I wrote here: http://www.sonymusic.com/about/feedback.cgi

And I'm looking for other places.

[LDiCesare]

I certainly hope Sony will be sued for the damage it causes on computers. Any stupid hacker can write a file called $sys$whatever and infect computers which played the sony cd's. I'm hoping for big, fat lawsuits.