Author Topic: Article: Inside the Spyware Scandal -- Part 2 (Read 14226 times)

mouser · « **on:** May 17, 2006, 11:47 AM »

Inside the Spyware Scandal -- Part 2

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The "rootkit" on Sony BMG CDs was meant to prevent consumers from disabling anti-piracy software. It didn't stop one group.
This article -- the cover story in Technology Review's May/June 2006 print issue -- has been divided into three parts for presentation online. This is part 2; part 1 appeared on Tuesday, May 16, and part 3 will appear on Thursday, May 18.
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http://www.technolog...6879&ch=infotech
mycaps Screenshot - 001 , 11_42_AM , May 17 2006_thumb.png

Gothi[c] · « **Reply #1 on:** May 17, 2006, 11:59 AM »

Meh, sony has no excuse. Shipping a rootkit with retail software is unacceptable, no matter what their so called motives were.

"We wanted to prevent people from copying music, so now we can control all computers that ever played a sony cd...."

overkill much?

It's a plot to take over the world!

DRM is pointless anyway. as long as music can be played and listened to, it can be copied.

f0dder · « **Reply #2 on:** May 17, 2006, 12:01 PM »

F-Secure are evil! They're reverse engineering commercial software and violating EULAs!!!111! one one.

Gothi[c] · « **Reply #3 on:** May 17, 2006, 12:16 PM »

f0dder

f0dder · « **Reply #4 on:** May 17, 2006, 12:21 PM »

Sorry, couldn't help it.

Carol Haynes · « **Reply #5 on:** May 17, 2006, 12:25 PM »

Also DRM isn't pointless and avoiding it is antisocial and illegal in most countries (not just the US now - its a global BB conspiracy) ...

now where is my CD burner ? (just kidding)

f0dder · « **Reply #6 on:** May 17, 2006, 12:29 PM »

DRM is ugly. If companies have their way, I would no longer be able to rip my legally paid-for CDs to lossless format -- which makes life *so* much easier instead of having to go and change discs in my cdplayer every hour or so. And what about getting music from your legally paid-for CD to your mp3 player? Nope, you'll have to use some DRM-enabled crap that watermarks the audio files "inaudibly" (yeah right).

It's okay to make money, but I want to support the artists - NOT the greedy record companies

. And no matter what the greedy bastards come up with, the pirates will always be able to make their copies, so in the end only us legitimate users are hurt.

Bloody great.

Cpilot · « **Reply #7 on:** May 17, 2006, 05:36 PM »

Least you could do is address the whole issue:

The term "rootkit" derives from computer networks using Unix-style operating systems, where the system administrator -- the person with all rights and privileges to change the system -- is said to have "root" access. The first "root kits," written in the mid-1990s, were collections of software tools used by Unix hackers to acquire root access and deposit rogue code without leaving a trail. Windows rootkits emerged in 1999 and became so commonplace that they could be downloaded free from hacker collectives such as the one that produces the online magazine Rootkit (www.rootkit.com). More sophisticated versions could be purchased on the Internet for a few hundred dollars.

Another unknown is whether XCP's developers were aware that a rootkit, once installed on a customer's computer, could open a passage for other viruses and Trojan horse programs. But Princeton's Halderman says programmers at First 4 Internet must have been aware that the cloaking method they were employing was well known to malware writers. "They had to learn about this technique from other sources," Halderman says. "And in the course of researching how to use this technique, it's almost inconceivable that they wouldn't have discovered that [cloaking other malware] is something that rootkits do."

Truth is you can thank those "heroic" hackers and crackers for root kits.
Thanks fOdder.

It don't matter what you think of it copy protection is coming.

Carol Haynes · « **Reply #8 on:** May 17, 2006, 06:12 PM »

Actually after Sony's problems I think CD copy protection is less likely. What is more likely is that CD sales will start to be wound up in favour of downloadables with DRM attached. This is already happening in the classical music world where lots of back catalogue has been taken off the shelves and is now only available in electronic form.

A knock on effect may well be that musicians say "if you aren't getting our product into the shops why do we need you" ... we can all live in hope for that day!

Carol Haynes · « **Reply #9 on:** May 17, 2006, 06:39 PM »

Interesting (if basic) article - and a polemic ...

http://www.pcmag.com...,1895,1962437,00.asp

The last para (page 2) says ...

Can't we find alternative ways to be entertained? Do you really need to listen to music all day long? Try classical music. You'll find genuine and sincere musicians who are not there to crank out pop junk. Move to indie bands if you need a dose of rock. Stop going to the movies and go see some plays—even a high-school play. These kids need your money more than anyone in Hollywood. Do you really need to watch a movie? Find an art theater and watch something thoughtful, if you must.

Which is good healthy advice.

I am off to the theatre tomorrow to see a play by Ibsen, reset in India and by an Asian group of actors. The whole eveing will cost me something under £10 (not counting drink!) and it will be a sociable evening out with friends. Thats about 50% of the cost of a DVD - which is ridiculously cheap.

swing · « **Reply #10 on:** May 17, 2006, 06:59 PM »

It don't matter what you think of it copy protection is coming.
-Cpilot (May 17, 2006, 05:36 PM)

True, but...

And no matter what the greedy bastards come up with, the pirates will always be able to make their copies, so in the end only us legitimate users are hurt.
-f0dder (May 17, 2006, 12:29 PM)

just as true, and maybe more relevant.

The only people the record industry is hurting is their customers, not the pirates.

Copy protection as a term is by and large a myth.

See copy protection is a game of "who is more clever", and when you have 10 or 20 people, being paid, to create a protection scheme, you have 1000-2000 people working, as a hobby, on breaking it.

Who do you think will win that game? The small crowd who does it because they get paid to do it, or the large crowd who does it because they think it is fun?

In the end, every protectionscheme that is made will be broken and circumvented by those that really wants to, and left standing punished for it, is the legitimate consumers who will have to endure all the crap those protectionschemes bring with them.

superboyac · « **Reply #11 on:** May 17, 2006, 07:27 PM »

Sony is company that is continually plagued by innovative hardware coupled with poor decisions in every other aspect of their company...which includes advertising, marketing, company management, roadmaps, etc. Basically, they make great products, and then find a way to really screw it up and shoot themselves in the foot.

Carol Haynes · « **Reply #12 on:** May 17, 2006, 07:40 PM »

I must admit I was in a quandry when I wanted to upgrade SoundForge and Vegas. I had bought them when they were still Sonic Foundry products and since then Sony bought up the titles. I have a rooted objection to buying anything Sony after the Rootkit debacle but I really did want to continue using SoundForge and Vegas. In the end I succumbed and felt guilty.

It is surprising though how many pies they have fingers in - it is almost impossible to buy CDs or DVDs that they don't have a share in ... and you can't always tell by the manufacturer mark as they have some many non-Sony (named) subsidiaries.

f0dder · « **Reply #13 on:** May 18, 2006, 07:02 AM »

Truth is you can thank those "heroic" hackers and crackers for root kits.
Thanks fOdder.
It don't matter what you think of it copy protection is coming.
-Cpilot (May 17, 2006, 05:36 PM)

Excuse me?

I have had nothing to do with rootkits, so please spare me the "thanks". I've had a fair deal to do with software protection though, and there's a couple of applications out there protected by my code.