Sony Rootkit X: Kiss and Make Up?

[jeffool]

Reuters (http://today.reuters.com/news/default.aspx) brought some good news (http://today.reuters.com/investing/financeArticle.aspx?type=governmentFilingsNews&storyID=URI:urn:newsml:reuters.com:20051118:MTFH53 938_2005-11-18_20-35-33_L18167933:1) yesterday afternoon that you may have missed.

Sony BMG, after announcing a recall of some 4.7 million CDs with the software on Wednesday, said on Friday consumers could mail their CDs to the company, and they would receive a new unprotected CD in return.

Pending the processing of the exchange programme, consumers would also receive an email with details of a Website where they could download the music tracks as unprotected MP3 files.
Rather than a funny quip, I'll just mention this blog posting (http://grumpygamer.com/8821068) by kick-ass developer Ron Gilbert (http://www.mobygames.com/developer/sheet/view/developerId,1363/) where he points out his opinion on the 'fiasco', which I share.

[KhitomerRouge]

One of the commenters made the excellent point that all of Sony's subsidiaries are wholly independent companies, who most likely have nothing to do with each other financially or technologically. So boycotting Sony/BMG is effective for the people who came up with the rootkit, but is counterproductive for Sony Computer Entertainment (Playstation line and games), or Sony Pictures (movies and DVDs), or Sony Electronics (TVs and other consumer electronics). I mean, you're welcome to boycott all of them, but it's like charging a guy (or his family) with assault because someone else with the same last name broke into your house.

[EvilBob46]

Pretty decent way to resolve the situation on their part, as long as they never ever do it again. Which might or might not be the case.

[pur3r4ge]

It stopped me from buying a PSP. I was strongly considering it, then this whole rootkit nonsense came out, as well as the PS3 DRM stories, and it made me decide to keep my living room sony-free.

[Roc Ingersol]

Pretty decent way to resolve the situation on their part, as long as they never ever do it again. Which might or might not be the case.
They certainly haven't stopped pushing DRM'd CDs.
They just stopped shipping and pressing CDs with this DRM.

They're still the same bastards. They're just upset they got busted.

Sony's subsidiaries don't confer with one another much, but profit/loss flows up. Boycotting any Sony subsidiary hurts the same fat cats in the end -- conveniently, the only people in the position to make a Sony-wide policy decision.

boycott sony/BMG and you just ensure they use different consumer-unfriendly DRM next time - because the corporate leaders are still calling for it.

[AspectVoid]

*shrug* I buy one or two CDs every three or four years, so this doesn't really effect me one way or another. The fact is if you go out on the street and ask 100 random people, I'd bet you at least 70 of them will either 1) Will have never heard of the DRM issue or 2) Won't understand it, so they won't care. I really think that in the long run, this won't mean squat to Sony beyond whatever they get nailed in court cases. The vast majority of people are too stupid or too blind to care.

[agentgray]

Harm has already been done. The rootkit is out in the wild and already being abused.

Blowing smoke.

[Savok]

The lesson learnt from all this?

You're better off pirating, a lot safer then paying money at a store.

[JediSanf]

It stopped me from buying a PSP. I was strongly considering it, then this whole rootkit nonsense came out, as well as the PS3 DRM stories, and it made me decide to keep my living room sony-free.


It shouldn't, given the above point that SCE is not and has no part in Sony Music as well as the fact that the PS3 DRM was proven to be bullshit. Now if you don't want to buy a PSP for a myriad of other reasons directly related to SCE then more power to you. I'm just here to put out this particular brushfire.

A rumor can travel around the world before the truth has got its boots on.
-Terry Pratchett

[Dracula-X]

What a lot of people don't realize is Sony BMG is NOT wholly owned by Sony. 50 percent is owned by Bertelsmann AG and 50 percent owned by Sony Corporation of America. Sony's divisions work together enough to keep the company as a whole moving forward, but they call their own shots. (There is a history of infighting among the divisions as well, bit of a dysfunctional family)

Punishing Sony Computer Entertainment because Sony BMG inflicted this bullshit DRM upon the public is pretty much retarded and will not get the point across.

[DoubleUranium]

It doesn't matter if Sony Music isn't the exact same company as SCE - if you think they're totally independent you're dreaming. Decisions are made at the top across all Sony companies. Why do you think the Walkman brand is dead? The iPod. Sony is the one company that dominated the personal music player space and they completely dropped the ball and gave the market to Apple. Sony Electronics was forbidden to make a useful non ATRAC crippled MP3 player because Sony Music didn't want to support the format without DRM. The Walkman brand died over this and you think that decisions aren't made by one Sony company that affect another Sony company? You're dreaming. Boycott away.

[Onea]

"...decisions are made at the top..."

So you think that the executive board of all the Sony companies got together and said, "Damn, we should put a rootkit on all our customer's computers so we can spy on them. Yeah, that'd be awesome."

Bullshit.

[DoubleUranium]

It doesn't have to be that specific. The board sets a direction - DRM on all of our music CDs, and all of our electronics should support that DRM. This rootkit is the result of that policy but not the specific intention. Whatever happened to the buck stops here leadership?

[bobbler]

It doesn't matter if Sony Music isn't the exact same company as SCE - if you think they're totally independent you're dreaming. Decisions are made at the top across all Sony companies. Why do you think the Walkman brand is dead? The iPod. Sony is the one company that dominated the personal music player space and they completely dropped the ball and gave the market to Apple. Sony Electronics was forbidden to make a useful non ATRAC crippled MP3 player because Sony Music didn't want to support the format without DRM. The Walkman brand died over this and you think that decisions aren't made by one Sony company that affect another Sony company? You're dreaming. Boycott away.

That's pretty far from the truth with Sony. Sony has been notorious for being in the situation where "the right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing" -- there is no cohesiveness in their company, every division is doing their own thing and pursuing their own intrerests (which is a lot of the reason Stringer was brought in, to try to bring the divisions together and use them to push each other, not fight each other).

Dracula-X made a point I didn't really want to, also. I won't be buying a Sony BMG cd if I can help it, but I'm not going to boycott another division of the company who has brought me nothing but some of the best entertainment for the last ~10 years.

[Magnanimous Gnome]

It doesn't have to be that specific. The board sets a direction - DRM on all of our music CDs, and all of our electronics should support that DRM. This rootkit is the result of that policy but not the specific intention. Whatever happened to the buck stops here leadership?


You must not have gotten the memo stating that personal responsibility is dead.

Whether or not SCE should be boycotted for this DRM, there are plenty of other reasons to not give the company money. Constant lying might be one. Not want crazy Kutaragi might be another. Just depends on your viewpoint I suppose.

[Snowmit]

It doesn't matter if they are the same company. They are all trading on the SONY BRAND. The fact that legally for whatever tax and operational reasons various parts have been spun off in various directions doesn't mean a thing to me. Calling everything SONY says "you can expect the SONY commitment to quality from this product." It cuts both ways. If they all want to trade on the goodwill associated with their brand, then when part of the brand fucks up, they all get to trade on the badwill too.

[mister_slim]

It stopped me from buying a PSP. I was strongly considering it, then this whole rootkit nonsense came out, as well as the PS3 DRM stories, and it made me decide to keep my living room sony-free.
Which is funny, because Kutaragi has criticized the music and mp3 player divisions for their DRM idiocy in the past. Notice how the PSP isn't ATRAC-only?

[One Sick, Sick Six]

I can't believe no one's said this, and now I say it with every wronged bone in my body, that the ONLY way for this to work is to

TELL EVERYBODY

Eventually the rootkit will be forgotten, but sony has got to be hit hard like YOU've been hit hard. NOW.

[Twigz'N'Berries]

The lesson learnt from all this?

You're better off pirating, a lot safer then paying money at a store.
Funny as hell...

[Montgomery_Python]

The lesson learnt from all this?

You're better off pirating, a lot safer then paying money at a store.
3 cheers.

I haven't bought shit in forever. It's good to be in Canada. My movie release sched on my PC runs about 4 months behind the theatres.

[The Iron Weasel]

Bastards, I can't even buy Mudvayne cds anymore!!!!