Sony Still Hurting From DRM CDs
Poster: Aron Schatz
Posted on December 21, 2006 at 2:21:35 PM
Remember last year when Sony released those DRM riddled CDs that broke people's computers? Remember when Sony said they did nothing wrong? Remember how some states are suing them? Remember how smug Sony acts about its BS policies? Screw Sony.
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Likely so, but the deal with California and Texas won't be the end of the "rootkit" fiasco for the music giant. Sony still has to contend with a consortium of 13 states, including Massachusetts, Nebraska and Florida, that are expected to look for a similar deal, according to Jeff McGrath, deputy district attorney for Los Angeles County, which took part in California's case against Sony. In addition, McGrath said an investigation launched earlier this year by the Federal Trade Commission looms. A spokesperson for the FTC declined to comment.
The uproar over Sony's DRM started in October 2005 when a computer programmer discovered that one of the company's CDs was restricting his computer's ability to copy music. He had installed Sony software that enabled him to listen to a CD on his computer, but without his knowledge, the disc also installed a DRM program that would limit the number of copies he made of the CD and barred him from creating unprotected MP3s. The DRM also provided a place where malicious software could hideout and operate undetected. The feature is known as a rootkit.