New dangerous copy protection scheme on Sony CDs uncovered (1 Viewer)

[Christian Behrens]

When you buy new CDs, be careful what they require you to install on your PC, as it could be as dangerous as "rootkits". Not only does it hide itself, it can also make your drives disappear, is always in the system, and can cause bluescreens!

Full details of the discovery by Mark Russinovich here:

http://www.sysinternals.com/blog/200...al-rights.html

-Christian

 

[Brian L]

Interesting stuff, but I have to laugh a bit at this quote:



The screen shot that the author printed after this line shows that the words CONTENT/COPY PROTECTED CD are in very large type. Here is a link to the current listing:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...glance&s=music

Again, they are not exactly hiding the fact that this is a copy protected title.

So, the dude has computer sleuthing skills that could get him a job at the CIA, but he misses the explicit warning? Hummmmm.

FWIW, I have exactly one protected title in my collection (Velvet Revolver) and I refuse to buy any CD that is known to be copy protected. In fact, I refused to buy the last Foo Fighters release for that reason. I am a big fan of the band and have all their previously released CD's, but even if it is easily defeatable, it just does not sit right with me and I will not support any label or band that uses it.

Brian

 

[TheLongshot]

To be honest, I probably wouldn't have noticed it as well, since I'm not looking for it.

Course, when I go to the store to buy CDs, they usually don't broadcast it in big letters. That's where I usually buy CDs, and it may be where he bought his CD as well. (He didn't say he bought it off of Amazon.)

In any case, I agree with him that this is pretty rotten. Course, the industry would just argue that this is an argument for a DRM system to be built into the operating system, so that they don't have to do system hacks to protect their content. Course, if they produced content that was worth buying, this probably wouldn't be a problem.

In my collection of 1200 CDs, there are only two which I know are copy protected. (The aformentioned Velvet Revolver CD, and Linkin Park's Reanimated.) I guess copy protection is really encouraging me to buy their CDs. :rolleyes

Jason

 

[Christian Behrens]

Keep in mind, though, that this is the first time I have seen amazon.com have that information listed in the first place. Amazon.de has done that for years, but most other Amazon sites so far have not.

And as Jason said, he might not have gotten it at Amazon, or they might not have had that information up when he bought it, who knows?

I'm sorry, but there is just no excuse for something like this. Instead of treating the honest customer with respect, he gets an unstable computer and a non-CD, that potentially doesn't even work in his normal CD-spec compliant players.

There should be an outrage about this, but I guess people will only complain once they realize that after upgrading their PC to the next Windows the media they paid for will be unusable (because not only is this not working on Linux and Macs, apparently, but who guarantees it will work on Windows Vista, or the versions after it?).

It's ironic that iTunes offers WAY more rights compared to the crap Sony pulls with this one.

Thanks, but no thanks!

-Christian

 

[Andrew Bunk]

Disabling Autorun in the registry has saved me so many headaches. As long as I don't double-click the CD drive, and immediately rip the tracks, I never have a problem.

I have the tracks from the latest 30 Seconds From Mars CD (which is also marked as COPY PROTECTED on Amazon) on my hard drive right now. The packaging had quite prominent warnings about what you can and can't do with the CD. Funny, I just did what I wanted.

 

[MikeH1]

Give this a read. Seems like Sony is up to their tricks of the past.

http://bigpicture.typepad.com/commen...ippled_cd.html

 

[Thomas Newton]

CNET News - Sony CD Protection Sparks Security Concerns (front-page title: Sony cloaking technique unmasked)

There have also been a couple of Slashdot articles on this in the last day or two.

 

[Marc Colella]

Typical Sony, nothing they do surprises me anymore.

Seems like every division of Sony is screwing up royally.

It's no wonder the last Sony product I've purchased was my SACD player - and that was about 5 years ago.