more on Sony's Escalating "Spyware" Fiasco

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: "Synthesis: Law and Technology"  
<synthesis.law.and.technology () gmail com>
Date: December 2, 2005 1:47:48 PM EST
To: dave () farber net
Subject: Re: [IP] more on Sony's Escalating "Spyware" Fiasco

Dave,

Many people like to bash Microsoft but to be fair this surely isnt  
one of the times?
Blaming Microsoft for software that requires you to click OK seems as  
silly as blaming GM if someone pumps bad gasoline into your car, no?
People bought the CD and ckicked OK because they trusted Sony, not  
because they trusted Microsoft to protect them against Sony,  
surely?    Since when did anyone trust Microsoft?  Did anyone not  
wearing a tinfoil hat at the time remotely suspect that we needed  
protection against Sony?  Why should Microsoft be more prescient?    
As we have seen over the centuries there appears to be no limit to  
human foolishness and no way to predict just how creatively we can be  
foolish.  Surely we are not holding Microsoft up for failing to be  
clairvoyant now?

Dan Steinberg

SYNTHESIS:Law & Technology
35, du Ravin phone: (613) 794-5356
Chelsea, Quebec
J9B 1N1

On 12/1/05, David Farber <dave () farber net> wrote:

Begin forwarded message:

From: Bob Hinden <bob.hinden () nokia com >
Date: November 30, 2005 5:02:24 PM EST
To: dave () farber net
Cc: Bob Hinden <bob.hinden () nokia com>
Subject: Re: [IP] Sony's Escalating "Spyware" Fiasco

Dave,

There is something in this that I am missing.  Why is no one upset
with Microsoft for providing the functionality that allows a hidden
program on an audio CD to automatically install software on the PC
invisibility to the user.  This is very broken.

While Sony is clearly the main culprit, Microsoft was the facilitator.

Bob

------------------------

On Nov 30, 2005, at 3:35 AM, ext David Farber wrote:

> Begin forwarded message:
>
> From: Monty Solomon <monty () roscom com>
> Date: November 29, 2005 11:15:45 PM EST
> To: undisclosed-recipient:;
> Subject: Sony's Escalating "Spyware" Fiasco
>
>
> NOVEMBER 22, 2005
>
> News Analysis
> By Lorraine Woellert
>
> Sony's Escalating "Spyware" Fiasco
> Along with lawyers, prosecutors, and furious fans, artists are
> joining the backlash against the label for slipping a hidden,
> anti-theft program into users' computers
>
> Van Zant's Get Right with the Man CD was released in May, but six
> months later it still was doing better-than-respectable business on
> Amazon.com (AMZN ). The album ranked No. 887 on the online retailer's
> list of music sales on Nov. 2. Then news of the CD's aggressive
> content safeguards -- a sub-rosa software program incorporated
> courtesy of Sony BMG -- exploded on the Internet.
>
> To prevent audiophiles from making multiple copies of the CDs, Sony
> (SNE) had programmed the Van Zant disk, and dozens of others, with a
> hidden code called a "rootkit" that secretly installs itself on hard
> drives when the CDs are loaded onto listeners' PCs. Soon enough,
> hackers began designing viruses to take malicious advantage of the
> hidden program, and a Sony boycott had begun (see BW Online,
> 11/17/05, "Sony's Copyright Overreach").
>
> GROWING OUTRAGE.  Overnight, Get Right with the Man dropped to No.
> 1,392 on Amazon's music rankings. By Nov. 22 -- after the news made
> headlines and Sony was deep into damage control, pulling some 4.7
> million copy-protected disks from the market -- Get Right with the
> Man was even further from Amazon's Top 40, plummeting to No. 25,802.
>
> The wrath of fans killed Sony's CD copy controls, with the company
> pulling 52 titles off retail shelves, beginning the week of Nov. 14.
> But the wrath of bands could be far worse for the company -- and for
> efforts to protect content in general.
>
> Singers and songwriters are increasingly expressing frustration at
> devices used by record companies to protect digital content from
> widespread theft that results when CDs are copied repeatedly or
> popular tracks are given away on peer-to-peer (P2P) networks, such as
> LimeWire and BitTorrent. Sony's misstep has been bad for the company
> -- and its effects could spread much further, should the consumer
> outcry gain traction with the recording artists who need to keep
> their fans happy if they want to sell records.
>
> ...
>
> http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/nov2005/
> tc20051122_343542.htm
>
>
>
>
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