Sony and a rootkit - perfect together

Just what we wanted from a DRM CD

Published on November 2, 2005 By IanTyger In Personal Computing

Via a link from Instapundit comes this tale of Sony's latest DRM - and it's side effects. As a couple of people pointed out - this is probably illegal in a couple of jurisdictions, and downright STUPID to boot.

I work in tech support - and have enough problems with poorly written software conflicting - this is poorly written software that HIDES from the user.

Comments

Yarlen

on Nov 02, 2005

Wonderful. Yet another perfect example of why DRM doesn't work.

scorpio-logic

on Nov 02, 2005

Mark Russinovich is the shiz-nick.

terpfan1980

on Nov 03, 2005

Noticed multiple headlines about this issue. Sony is apparently working with the creators of the software to release a patch that will "un-hide" the files, but it's slow in coming.

Visiting Sony's web site to find the form that gets filled out to completely remove the software isn't easy either, and still doesn't really guarantee the software is all gone. It may leave behind traces that would indicate it was previously installed on the system so that the user couldn't cheat the system by installing the software and then uninstalling it and re-installing it again.

Not great software, especially so given that the customer PAID for the music on the disc.

CygnusXII

on Nov 03, 2005

Yeah but apparently now, the side benefit is that you can exploit the program and hide other programs and files, by appending $sys$ to the filename, or something similar. They are saying this is a boon to the WoW users against the Warden Software. Being able to generically use the hiding prefix on files, could be further exploited in multiples of ways, and might even been a boon to less suave script kiddies. I can see them taking this tech, and running with it.

Lantec

on Nov 03, 2005

Eye opening article. I will definitely have to think twice before buying anything from Sony in the future.

starkers

on Nov 04, 2005

The whole thing STINKS! Music vendors have a right to protect their interests, but to introduce by stealth, something which has the potential to harm users' property is well below the belt. By design, it is intended to be hidden from the owner of the PC, which makes its creators no better than the parasites who conceal viruses/trojans in emails and the like.

Bastards!

werewolf

on Nov 05, 2005

There are not enough adjectives to describe how bad this stinks. I'm so mad LOL...I've posted about these sorts of things before and it just keeps getting worse!!!

Try this for a great article on the subject: http://www.cnet.com/4520-6033-6376177-1.html

Oh, and you need to check out certain Hollywood backed legislation called the Analog Hole bill for even more great news: http://www.boingboing.net/2005/11/01/hollywood_after_the_.html

This has to end. Consumers are going to be the only pressure against this and we must be loud and we must be persistant and we must not give up. This whole thing just bites the big wazoo!!

If I wouldn't get kicked off this site, I would put this post at the top of every category list in here.

IanTyger

on Nov 06, 2005

I've been seeing reports now of World of Warcraft cheaters using the "power" of this rootkit to hide the cheating programs from Blizzards Warden program. So it already is being used for malicious purposes...

DigitalDanes

on Nov 06, 2005

Update: Sony Fix Called ‘Shoddy’
“November 6, 2005 — On November 1, Window OS expert Mark Russinovich revealed that his root kit detection utility had uncovered the presence of some well-hidden, poorly written code that was clogging computer resources and could potentially crash his computer or, if removed, disable his CD drive.

This is quite common in the world of malware (viruses, worms, Trojans, spyware, etc), but in Russinovich’s case, there was a really interesting angle: The hidden software was not the product of some antisocial hacker, but rather came from a CD he had legitimately purchased from Sony BMG (Van Zandt’s Get Right With the Man). And to make matters even more shameful, not only was the limiting software intentionally designed to hide itself from the user’s scrutiny, the End User Licensing Agreement (EULA) was deliberately vague about how user agreement might compromise the computer itself—and was misleading about the possibility of removing the “small, proprietary software” that was installed. In other words, after promising it could be removed, there were no provisions for doing so.”

read more: Link Sony BMG Highjacks Consumers’ Computers, “Apologizes” With Shoddy Fix

Posted in Link News from SpywareInfo.com website

DD

Posted via WinCustomize Browser/Stardock Central

Nadeon

on Nov 09, 2005

You can read the whole nightmare at the below links. I've been following this from the outset.

Link

Link

Link

Link

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