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Sony's Escalating "Spyware" Fiasco
The consumer-electronics giant has unleashed a firestorm by including a covert program on music CDs that leaves PC users prey to viruses. Along with lawyers, prosecutors, and furious fans, artists are joining the backlash against the label for slipping a hidden, anti-theft program into users' computers
Call it the revenge of the nerds -- digital style. For years, computer geeks and cyberlibertarians have howled about aggressive user restrictions programmed into music CDs, movie DVDs, and all kinds of software. They've issued dire warnings about the media industry's zeal to protect content in the Digital Age. At risk, they cautioned, was the consumer's right to enjoy legally purchased content how and where they saw fit.
To prevent audiophiles from making multiple copies of the CDs, Sony had programmed dozens of CDs with a hidden code called a "rootkit" that secretly installs itself on hard drives when the CDs are loaded onto listeners' PCs. Soon enough, hackers began designing viruses to take malicious advantage of the hidden program, and a Sony boycott had begun.
Singers and songwriters are increasingly expressing frustration at devices used by record companies to protect digital content from widespread theft that results when CDs are copied repeatedly or popular tracks are given away on peer-to-peer (P2P) networks, such as LimeWire and BitTorrent. Sony's misstep has been bad for the company -- and its effects could spread much further, should the consumer outcry gain traction with the recording artists who need to keep their fans happy if they want to sell records.
The wrath of fans killed Sony's CD copy controls, with the company pulling 52 titles off retail shelves, beginning the week of Nov. 14. But the wrath of bands could be far worse for the company -- and for efforts to protect content in general.
full BusinessWeek.com article
posted by Unknown @ Monday, November 28, 2005,
