New spyware claim against Sony BMG

Software used to thwart illegal copying was downloaded even if users rejected license agreement, according to latest charge.

The story "New spyware claim against Sony BMG" published December 21, 2005 at 10:32 AM is no longer available on CNET News.

Content from Reuters expires after 30 days.

If a Computer Owner says No it means NO

If we as computer owners say no we do not agree to a licensing agreement it should mean no. No ifs ands or buts about it. No means No. I hate spyware on my machine and work hard to keep it off and sometimes it is pulling hair out if spyware does get through to get it back off of the machine. I have come into cases where it is just easier to reformat the machine rather then to mess with trying to get the spyware off.

Sony and any other company has no right to put spyware on our pc's without our knowledge. I think there should be a BIG warning required for spyware to let consumers know that the program they are installing is indeed spyware..Granted 90 percent of the people wouldn't install it but there are so many people that have no clue even what spyware is and it is killing their machines making them unusable. Granted some of this is the consumer fault but some of the blame lies in the hand of the company because so many people think when they install drivers and software that everything that is on that CD is good and is needed. More and more we are seeing spyware popping up on keyboard cd drivers, mouse drivers ect....

Something needs to be done and someone needs to tie the hands of the company and make them learn that if the customer says no then don't do it anyway!

[cooldogjones]

Techno War

Kind of like Pearl Harbor all over again except that instead of
bombs, software is used or shall we call it Corporate Spyware.

Whatever happened to requiring that a person must have intent
to commit a crime then actually do it for it to be a crime. The
corporate world needs to remember what the first three letters
are in ASSumption. To the corporate dogs out there: "Don't
assume your customers are criminals." You'll only alienate them
and then you lose your customer base. Don't you just hate
negative publicity?

[Buzz_Friendly]

Sony turns honest folks into hackers

To remove the Sony rootkit one need to learn how to hack it out of there system. The uninstall doesnt work and you actually have to ASK Sony permission to remove it. I dont advocate P2P but I hope someone post every single song from every Sony music disk to kazaa or whatever people use the days for mp3s. I also decided not to buy anything from Sony including the PSP my kid wanted for Christmas. Show Sony you mean business with your wallets!

[aabcdefghij987654321]

Not collecting the information doesn't wash

The problems Sony wants us to overlook are:

A: Their software installs even when it's denied permission. That's wrong, plain and simple.

B: Their illegally installed software sends information to an external site. Their claims that they're not collecting/using that information are irrelevent, it's the sending of that information without the user's knowledge/consent in the first place which breaks the law. The "fact" that they've not taken advantage of that is a technicality. The question they want to avoid is "Why send that information in the first place?", clearly the fact that they coded that into the software shows an intent to use that information eventually.

[Stormspace]

Do Over?

Puuleese! If I get pulled over for speeding down the road and I tell the officer. I'm sorry officer, I went back and drove down the road 15 mph slower to make up for my speeding, it still doesn't change the fact I broke the law. Same goes for Sony. What they did was illegal, they should get the same penalties a hacker would get for doing the same thing.

[bobby_brady]

I wonder how much spyware will be built into PS3!

Since Sony was bundling spyware on simple CD's, imagine all the spyware they will bundle into their PS3!!

[DianeST]

No More Sony Products For Us!

Thats why I won't buy it for my children. Can't trust Sony anymore. Not buying any Sony products in the future.

[mysqlrocks]

More States

Good, I hope more states sue Sony. Throw everything we can at them. Companies need to know they can't get away with this sort of thing.

--
Bradley
<a class="jive-link-external" href="http://www.gtalkprofile.com/" target="_newWindow">http://www.gtalkprofile.com/</a>

[rcrusoe]

Get out the big nails

This is great news. The entertainment industry has had it too good lately with all the crap Congress has passed for them. (What ever happened to campaign finance reform?)

It's about time someone in authority started thinking about taking care of their boss - the American people.

Problem with Reporting --

... to thwart illegal copying of music on CDs...

Let's not mention that it prevents LEGAL copying as well. Sony and other media outlets would just as soon have you believe there is no such thing as LEGAL copying.

This amounts to closing ranks in my opinion -- not good reporting. There's a clear slant here in favor of Sony and by extension content creating media companies in general -- content creating media companies like Cnet.

Clifford VanMeter
<a class="jive-link-external" href="http://techpolitics.us" target="_newWindow">http://techpolitics.us</a>

[bobby_brady]

We are allowed to create backups for private use

But somehow the word "illegal" always shows up whenever the word "copying" shows up. It just shows how much interest the RIAA, and MPAA have in journalism.

[heystoopid]

Hmm! this is nothing but CYBERTERRORISM!

Hmmm, Messrs Lack, Hesse &#38; Stringer, should be stripped of hiding behind the shield of a legitimate corporation and given long term hard time criminal sentences, for the introduction of cyberterrorrism, supply of illegal computer software worldwide,numerous and extensive illegal business tatics and practices, theft and deceptive practices in payment of artist royalty payments(USD$10,000,000 fine for illegal DJ payola shows a total lack of any ethics) and so on!

Further ,in the activities in illegally hijacking and pirating private and government computers with illegal trojanware , which exceeds every aspect of the DMCA means that, these men are nothing but cyber terrororists in every sense of the word and definition!

Thus ,it is a shame we cannot charge these men with cyberterrorism under the 'Patriot Act', which means all Sony shareholders are then by definition, paying for and supporting illegal terrorism, and are subject to penalties by the same law!

The assorted class action law suites, only offer a partial redress of the real issues, as to whether an legitimate corporation is permitted to stoop to cyberterrorism, to illegally defend it's copyright control in this new century!

[Michael Grogan]

The patriot act does not apply

to corporations. The fascist government of the United States enacted the patriot act to control its CITIZENS; they require the assistance of corporate america to help cement their fascist regime.

[ejryder3]

Boycott

Sony is obviously no one's friend. Treating customers like criminals is the height of lunacy.
Playstation 3 and more importantly, Blu-Ray need to be avoided at all costs. One can only imagine the kind of built in spyware that will have!

[techguy83]

Also

According to the latest edition of Game Informer magazine, the Sony PS3 will have the technological ability to lock a game so that it will only play on "that" "one" system. Sony has not yet commented on if that feature will be used or not yet.

[Dead Soulman]

Screw the artist, and screw the consumers

See, record labels are known for screwing artists on all sales of their music. Then they over charge the consumers up $19 for a cd, that we all know that shouldn't cost more than $7.00 after everyone got a substantial profit.

Now, they've decided to screw with people's computers. Since they couldn't control your cd player, now they go after your pc. Why are they getting away with it. If one private citizen was to create the same program and run it identically in the fashion Sony is, he/she would be burned in the eyes of the public.

But, a big corporation like Sony will get a pass. I'm sure they'll be fine a million dollars or two. That's nothing. That's a drop in their barrel of money they have. What's their name "Sony" "BMG". They have more money than any mere mortal can imagine. They'll declare it on their taxes as a loss and recoup it with plenty of gain from any of the artists on their rosters. They never lose.

Remember the big Milli Vanilli fiasco??? Arista was willing to give you a dollar for every cd turned in. That was it. Then they hired L.A. Reid who brought the label to ruins. He gave Whitney Houston millions, which she walked out the door with. He kicked Clive Davis out the door. Clive Davis formed "J" records, which released some good stuff. "J" is now in some mix with RCA. And L.A. Reid is rewarded again. He's some big honcho at another major. They never lose.

They never lose.

See, want to avoid any of this nonsense again??? Buy your stuff online from iTunes, Napster, Rhapsody, Yahoo, or whatever rocks your boat. The music is cheaper because there's no physical product to manufacture. Yahoo's encodes their music at 192k. That should work.

Remember, major labels never lose.

[fart-knocker]

Don't Forget www.Limewire.com

The new "Old Napster" file-sharing.
www.limewire.com

Stand up Consumer

The only way this insanity is going to stop ,is the American consumer stops buying the products from these companies. That is the only thing business understands,PERIOD.

[fart-knocker]

Sony: Restricting You From What You Paid For

I suppose Sony thinks that because they make the hardware, software and music stars that they can decide how much I can have for my $18.00 CD.

I got one of these crummy CDs that didn't work in my old CD player. I couldn't return it (thanks to Sony's policy with music stores - I MIGHT have ripped or copied it), nor could I play it, nor could I exchange it for the same title - since the same title would have the same encryption.

What's next? Exclusive Sony Music for Sony CD and DVD players? What a scam.

I actually had to use my NON-SONY mp3 player's line in, play the disc and make my own tracks that I converted back into WAV so I could play the music that I HAD ALREADY PURCHASED on another disc. Copied.

The very copy-protection Sony tried so hard for me to not be able to do was the only HONEST way I could have cracked and listened to what I paid for.

Yes, WHAT I PAID FOR.

Good for Texas.

[Liquid06]

Backup copies for my lifestyle

I finally broke down and bought a major artist CD from Starbucks. Unable to rip it to my hard drive, unable to make a copy, I could listen to it only a few times before it became too scratched to play at all.

Goodbye $18, goodbye music.

I don't recall the recording company, but this copy protection business is just getting out of hand.

Cassette tapes were better in that regard.

Oh yeah, and rock on LimeWire!

[Osko]

Scratches?

How did you scratch a CD so bad that it's unplayable after a few listens?

[cperdomoelvir]

What about the people Abroad?

Sony protected disks are sold all over the world, not just in Canada and the US. Yet, it only benefits users from these countries.

For instance, I got as a Christmas Present, a SONY BMG MediaMax protected CD. I declined the user licence, yet the SbcpHid driver installed by itself.

I disabled it, and will run such CDs using the Shift option. But the question remains the same, What is Sony doing for its customers abroad? Shouldn't such measures be applied to all of Sony's customers?

This will only allow Sony to keep abusing its customers abroad, which don't have either the resources or a strong legal court system, to make Sony make ammends.

Since they didn't make headway in the US, it will allow them to screw everyone else, improve the technology and then attempt to apply it again in the US.

Sony BMG should be made to make ammends to all of its customer base, not just its North American Clients.

[it3579753]

Watch out for other problems....

Sony has always had a problem with proprietory stuff. Think about it. They always want their share in every market. They don't want to lose out in the music industry, so they make this. They want a piece of the new DVD disc profits, so they go make a Blu-Ray disc to compete with Toshiba's, NEC's, AND Sanyo's HD-DVD format! WHEN WILL SONY LEARN?!?! they have so much going for them already...