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OTazMan was the first to send this along. Here are some more details in 
a comprehensible summary form:
http://news.com.com/2100-7355_3-5926657.html

 From what's been reported publicly so far, it seems that this is a 
braindead product decision by SonyBMG and the company deserves all the 
criticism it's going to receive.

But I wonder if SonyBMG's clumsy rootkit amounts to a "technological 
measure that effectively controls access to a (copyrighted) work." If 
so, why wouldn't removing it be a violation of section 1201(a) of the 
Digital Millennium Copyright Act? Chalk this up as yet another reason 
for DMCA reform:
http://www.politechbot.com/2005/10/06/progress-and-freedom/

-Declan

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Sony installed DRM software that uses a rootkit to hide itself!
Date: Tue, 1 Nov 2005 12:55:38 -0800
From: OTazMan <otazman@gmail.com>
To: Declan McCullagh <declan@well.com>

I have never heard of DRM protection that hides in a RootKit and isn't
malware up until Sony just got done installing it. This needs to make the
main stream media.
Here is the link to the discovery:
http://www.sysinternals.com/blog/2005/10/sony-rootkits-and-digital-rights.html
  The register with a summary article:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/11/01/sony_rootkit_drm/
   Pass it along, Ron

Posted by Declan McCullagh on Nov 01, 2005 in category intellectual-property

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