Rootkits All Around: Universal Music Has It ,Too

["Fergie" <fergdawg () netzero net>]

Mike writes over on techdirt.com:

[snip]

I doubt this is surprising to anyone. But, following all the talk about Sony's rootkit-style copy protection found on 
some music CDs, people are looking to see who else the copy protection company works with. Riley turned up a press 
release, showing that the company is also outfitting certain Universal Music Group CDs with their special brand of 
malware copy protection -- even highlighting in the announcement that it's the same as found on SonyBMG CDs. Of course, 
given Universal Music's CEO Edgar Bronfman's history of believing he must control everything, it's no surprise at all 
that they'd be using this too.

Given the lawsuits against adware firms for sneaky installs (and, recognizing that this rootkit stuff is actually much 
more dangerous by opening up additional holes in your computer), doesn't it seem like these record companies have just 
opened themselves up to a serious legal liability? They installed something on computers without asking or alerting 
you. They make it very, very, very difficult to remove. They break certain features of your computer and they open up a 
major security vulnerability that others can exploit. And then they call all their customers criminals. Can't imagine 
why they're having trouble with their existing business model.

[snip]

http://techdirt.com/articles/20051102/103241_F.shtml

- ferg


--
"Fergie", a.k.a. Paul Ferguson
 Engineering Architecture for the Internet
 fergdawg () netzero net or fergdawg () sbcglobal net
 ferg's tech blog: http://fergdawg.blogspot.com/


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