Sony BMG pulls CD copy-protection software

[Dave M]

About time...

WASHINGTON (AP) - Stung by continuing criticism, the world's second-largest
music label, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, promised Friday to suspend making
music CDs with anti-piracy technology that can leave computers vulnerable to
hackers.
Sony defended its right to prevent customers from illegally copying music but
said it will stop making CDs with the "XCP" technology as a precautionary
measure. "We also intend to re-examine all aspects of our content protection
initiative to be sure that it continues to meet our goals of security and ease
of consumer use," the company said in a statement.

http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/technology/2005-11-11-sony-bmg-suspends_x.htm?csp=26

 

[Guest]

And so Sony needs to publish a Rootkit Removal tool to repair the registry of
our damaged machines...

 

[Bill Sanderson]

They've published a patch to make the software visible. Removal is also
possible, but quite difficult. See Mark Russinovich's blog entries:

http://www.sysinternals.com/Blog/

--

 

[Anonymous Bob]

They've published a patch to make the software visible. Removal is also
possible, but quite difficult. See Mark Russinovich's blog entries:

http://www.sysinternals.com/Blog/

Now the DHS has weighed in. I think you'll like this if you haven't seen it:
http://blogs.washingtonpost.com/securityfix/2005/11/the_bush_admini.html

A high-ranking Bush administration official weighed in Thursday on
anti-piracy efforts domestically and abroad, indirectly chastising Sony BMG
Music Entertainment for its digital rights management (DRM) software, which
computer security analysis say uses tactics typically employed by virus
writers to hide its components and resist their removal.
The reference to the scandal over Sony's anti-piracy software came at a U.S.
Chamber of Commerce-sponsored event in downtown Washington on combating
intellectual-property theft. At the event, Stewart Baker, recently appointed
by President Bush as the Department of Homeland Security's assistant
secretary for policy, made a comment that suggested that some anti-piracy
efforts introduced by the industry could have profound and unexpected
effects on the security of the nation's critical infrastructures.

The line I like best from Baker addressed to the CEO of the RAII and others
is:
"It's very important to remember that it's your intellectual property --
it's not your computer."

Bob Vanderveen

 

[plun]

Anonymous Bob wrote :

"It's very important to remember that it's your intellectual property --
it's not your computer."

Hi

Timing or not but from official EU consumer organisation.

http://www.beuc.org/Content/Default.asp?PageID=149&LanguageCode=EN

http://www.consumersdigitalrights.org/cms/index_en.php

Press release:

http://docshare.beuc.org/Common/GetFile.asp?ID=18633&mfd=off&LogonName=Guestfr

Something for all hungry software DRM and TPM including DRM "must have"
industry to read including SOny and also MS.

 

[Bill Sanderson]

<G> Excellent!
--

Now the DHS has weighed in. I think you'll like this if you haven't seen
it:
http://blogs.washingtonpost.com/securityfix/2005/11/the_bush_admini.html

A high-ranking Bush administration official weighed in Thursday on
anti-piracy efforts domestically and abroad, indirectly chastising Sony
BMG
Music Entertainment for its digital rights management (DRM) software,
which
computer security analysis say uses tactics typically employed by virus
writers to hide its components and resist their removal.
The reference to the scandal over Sony's anti-piracy software came at a
U.S.
Chamber of Commerce-sponsored event in downtown Washington on combating
intellectual-property theft. At the event, Stewart Baker, recently
appointed
by President Bush as the Department of Homeland Security's assistant
secretary for policy, made a comment that suggested that some anti-piracy
efforts introduced by the industry could have profound and unexpected
effects on the security of the nation's critical infrastructures.

The line I like best from Baker addressed to the CEO of the RAII and
others
is:
"It's very important to remember that it's your intellectual property --
it's not your computer."

Bob Vanderveen