RE: Newsflash: Sony to stop making protected CDs

[Blanchard_Michael () emc com]

 so does their patch remove the crap for those unfortunately enough to put
the CD in their computers?  Or is Sony simply leaving those people hanging
out in the breeze with the Sony Root Kit installed forever...

  I'll bet Sony marketing created that Trojan just so they could blame it
for them removing the Rootkit from future CD's.  Would almost make sense
too, as the Trojan doesn't really do anything malicious....

 Interesting...


Michael P. Blanchard 
Antivirus / Security Engineer, CISSP, GCIH, MCSE, MCP+I 
Office of Information Security & Risk Management 
EMC ² Corporation 
4400 Computer Dr. 
Westboro, MA 01580 
email:  Blanchard_Michael () EMC COM 

-----Original Message-----
From: funsec-bounces () linuxbox org [mailto:funsec-bounces () linuxbox org] On
Behalf Of Fergie
Sent: Friday, November 11, 2005 1:19 PM
To: funsec () linuxbox org
Subject: [funsec] Newsflash: Sony to stop making protected CDs

Via SecurityFocus.

[snip]

Beleaguered Sony BMG will temporarily suspend the manufacture of
copy-protected CDs and re-examine its digital-rights management strategy,
the media giant said on Friday.

The company has been widely criticized by consumers, security experts and
digital-rights advocates for the surreptitious copy-protection programs that
Sony BMG CDs install on consumers' computers. Digital-rights advocates and
consumer attorneys are preparing nearly a half dozen legal actions against
the music giant.

While the company is re-evaluating its inclusion of the Extended Copy
Protection (XCP) technology produced by U.K.-based First 4 Internet, the
company stood by its right to protect its music.

Here is the full statement:

We are aware that a computer virus is circulating that may affect computers
with XCP content protection software. The XCP software is included on a
limited number of SONY BMG content protected titles. This potential problem
has no effect on the use of these discs in conventional, non-computer-based,
CD and DVD players.

In response to these events, SONY BMG has swiftly provided a patch to all
major anti-virus companies and to the general public that guards against
precisely the type of virus now said to exist. The patch fixes the possible
software problem, and still allows CDs to be played on personal computers.
It can be downloaded at http://cp.sonybmg.com/xcp/. Starting today, we will
also be adding this link to the SONY BMG label and corporate sites. We
deeply regret any possible inconvenience this may cause.

We stand by content protection technology as an important tool to protect
our intellectual property rights and those of our artists. Nonetheless, as a
precautionary measure, SONY BMG is temporarily suspending the manufacture of
CDs containing XCP technology. We also intend to re-examine all aspects of
our content protection initiative to be sure that it continues to meet our
goals of security and ease of consumer use. More information about our
content protection initiative can also be found at:
http://cp.sonybmg.com/xcp. 

[snip]

http://www.securityfocus.com/brief/45

- 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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