Neowin's Official Sony DRM/Rootkit Discussion

[E t h a n]

SONY BMG now has a site set up for exchanges of discs with the XCP technology.  Apparently, you select the disc, and it prints a pre-paid label to return the disc via UPS.

http://cp.sonybmg.com/xcp/english/home.html

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Interesting list! They note on it 52 titles--not the 20 they were telling everyone it was. What a bunch of filthy liars! :x

[chrisgeleven]

For a direct link to the list of CD's with this rootkit:

http://cp.sonybmg.com/xcp/english/titles.html

[webeagle12]

Just grow up and shut up about "boycotting Sony products." Your choice in products is going to be very limited if you boycott every company who ever did something stupid. Do any of you even realize how much you owe Sony? If you have a PlayStation, you owe it to Sony. If you have an Xbox, you owe it to Sony too, because without a competition as fierce as PlayStation, Microsoft would never have put so much effort into their console. Are you getting my drift? If you own any sort or digital camera, MP3 player, cell phone, game system, television, even a  pair of god damn headphones, Sony has either made them or made someone else make them better.

Sony makes tons of good products, and adds a lot to the competitiveness of many electronics markets. But I guess now that they've put out a few dozen albums with a less than perfect DRM, all the decades of technology they've contributed to your sorry arse are forgotten. So go ahead, be a dumb@$$ kid, and respond with a quote of my previous sentense followed by a "HA!".

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First of all we dont own anything to them, if you think u own something to them by buying PS, that you need to check in your local medical center

Second of all, I think your post is pure BS

Third, there a lot of better prodducts that available on market and they are not that expensive.

[[DGS]]

For those who have Slysoft's AnyDVD:

AnyDVD tackles Sony DRM Rootkit Virus!

If AnyDVD is installed and active on your PC, the new so-called "Sony DRM Rootkit Virus" has no access to your system and the affected audio CD appears unprotected regardless! Another good reason to get AnyDVD!

[Rascally]

You know, I was just thinking about this after looking at the list of affected CD's...there's maybe, what...5 on there, that most normal people under the age of 25 would buy? The rest are like, easy-listening and such. aka CDs that would more likely be bought by say, 35-40 and up.

...who will have no idea what this has done to their computer since they tried playing the CD on it.

YIKES.

[Powerless]

boycott?

Nahh...

Sony make some gorgeous technology and I'll continue to buy their products, when or if I can afford them. They got stupid [well maybe the suits did] by not fully understanding what they were doing. I don't have a problem with protecting ones work but how they went about it was ummmm bad.

[Denis W. Veteran]

Just grow up and shut up about "boycotting Sony products." Your choice in products is going to be very limited if you boycott every company who ever did something stupid. Do any of you even realize how much you owe Sony? If you have a PlayStation, you owe it to Sony. If you have an Xbox, you owe it to Sony too, because without a competition as fierce as PlayStation, Microsoft would never have put so much effort into their console. Are you getting my drift? If you own any sort or digital camera, MP3 player, cell phone, game system, television, even a? pair of god damn headphones, Sony has either made them or made someone else make them better.

Sony makes tons of good products, and adds a lot to the competitiveness of many electronics markets. But I guess now that they've put out a few dozen albums with a less than perfect DRM, all the decades of technology they've contributed to your sorry arse are forgotten. So go ahead, be a dumb@$$ kid, and respond with a quote of my previous sentense followed by a "HA!".

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HA! :pp

Damn right. You said it. People need to realize Sony doesn't operate in just one market. Sad that this DRM fiasco is giving them bad PR, when people fail to realize they should direct their hate towards First 4 Internet for coming up with the damn malware in the first place.

\

First of all we dont own anything to them, if you think u own something to them by buying PS, that you need to check in your local medical center

Second of all, I think your post is pure BS

Third, there a lot of better prodducts that available on market and they are not that expensive.

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1) So you acknowledge they did SCRAP to shape parts of the electronics market? Read up on this and tell me they did nothing. :sleep::

2) Yours isn't any better either.

3) What do you expect? Competition drives the markets on. If Sony was the only company making these products and everyone bought them, you'd see prices jumping to ridiculous levels.

Oh yeah, some of their older products do have a longer life than the cheaper alternatives. (Maybe not the newer products, though.) Consider that when you're thinking about "expensive."

[SnowRanger13]

I'd like to use rootkits to my advantage. Like an article that was up before on neowin it helped WoW hackers hide there stuff. It would be fun to fool around with. Probaly not sonys rootkit but rootkits in general.

[ev0|]

I'd like to use rootkits to my advantage. Like an article that was up before on neowin it helped WoW hackers hide there stuff. It would be fun to fool around with. Probaly not sonys rootkit but rootkits in general.

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script kiddie alert :pc:

[cybershark]

Real Story of the Rogue Rootkit

It's a David and Goliath story of the tech blogs defeating a mega-corporation.

On Oct. 31, Mark Russinovich broke the story in his blog: Sony BMG Music Entertainment distributed a copy-protection scheme with music CDs that secretly installed a rootkit on computers. This software tool is run without your knowledge or consent -- if it's loaded on your computer with a CD, a hacker can gain and maintain access to your system and you wouldn't know it.

The Sony code modifies Windows so you can't tell it's there, a process called "cloaking" in the hacker world. It acts as spyware, surreptitiously sending information about you to Sony. And it can't be removed; trying to get rid of it damages Windows.

This story was picked up by other blogs (including mine), followed by the computer press. Finally, the mainstream media took it up.

The outcry was so great that on Nov. 11, Sony announced it was temporarily halting production of that copy-protection scheme. That still wasn't enough -- on Nov. 14 the company announced it was pulling copy-protected CDs from store shelves and offered to replace customers' infected CDs for free.

But that's not the real story here.

It's a tale of extreme hubris. Sony rolled out this incredibly invasive copy-protection scheme without ever publicly discussing its details, confident that its profits were worth modifying its customers' computers. When its actions were first discovered, Sony offered a "fix" that didn't remove the rootkit, just the cloaking.

Sony claimed the rootkit didn't phone home when it did. On Nov. 4, Thomas Hesse, Sony BMG's president of global digital business, demonstrated the company's disdain for its customers when he said, "Most people don't even know what a rootkit is, so why should they care about it?" in an NPR interview. Even Sony's apology only admits that its rootkit "includes a feature that may make a user's computer susceptible to a virus written specifically to target the software."

However, imperious corporate behavior is not the real story either.

This drama is also about incompetence. Sony's latest rootkit-removal tool actually leaves a gaping vulnerability. And Sony's rootkit -- designed to stop copyright infringement -- itself may have infringed on copyright. As amazing as it might seem, the code seems to include an open-source MP3 encoder in violation of that library's license agreement. But even that is not the real story.

It's an epic of class-action lawsuits in California and elsewhere, and the focus of criminal investigations. The rootkit has even been found on computers run by the Department of Defense, to the Department of Homeland Security's displeasure. While Sony could be prosecuted under U.S. cybercrime law, no one thinks it will be. And lawsuits are never the whole story.

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Source

[[DGS]]

Trying to send info to SONY ?

doesn't a common firewall (etc. Zonealarm) notify you of such action ?

[chrisgeleven]

Trying to send info to SONY ?

doesn't a common firewall (etc. Zonealarm) notify you of such action ?

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And name how many people have a common firewall and even more important, know what one of those alerts mean?

Most people I know would just click the "Yes" or "Ok" button and go along with their business.

[llbbl]

Just grow up and shut up about "boycotting Sony products." Your choice in products is going to be very limited if you boycott every company who ever did something stupid. Do any of you even realize how much you owe Sony? If you have a PlayStation, you owe it to Sony. If you have an Xbox, you owe it to Sony too, because without a competition as fierce as PlayStation, Microsoft would never have put so much effort into their console. Are you getting my drift? If you own any sort or digital camera, MP3 player, cell phone, game system, television, even a  pair of god damn headphones, Sony has either made them or made someone else make them better.

Sony makes tons of good products, and adds a lot to the competitiveness of many electronics markets. But I guess now that they've put out a few dozen albums with a less than perfect DRM, all the decades of technology they've contributed to your sorry arse are forgotten. So go ahead, be a dumb@$$ kid, and respond with a quote of my previous sentense followed by a "HA!".

586818441[/snapback]

There are other companies besides Sony that make those products. A lot of times sony makes products or changes their products to compete with other companies, not the other way around. Look at how they enabled mp3 support for their minidisc.

http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,118743,00.asp

Sony is real good at coming up with their own stupid format for stuff and trying to force people to use it, like Betamax and Blu-Ray and Memory Stick.

Most of my "beef" is with Sony Music, but I don't particularlly like supporting a company that is part of the RIAA, so I just boycott the whole company in general. The world would be a much better place w/o Sony Music.

[llbbl]

I found the official list, put out by Sony.

http://cp.sonybmg.com/xcp/english/titles.html

[Japlabot]

Just got this email:

Thank you for contacting Sony BMG Online.

SUBJECT: Notification of potential security issue

Our records indicate that you recently sent us an email in connection with the purchase of a content protected CD, requesting a program to uninstall the XCP content protection software. We are sending you this email because we have been notified of a potential security issue that may arise in connection with the uninstaller program previously provided.

To be clear, the security issue is not raised by the presence of XCP content protection technology on the music CD you purchased. The security issue may arise when a user downloads the program to uninstall the XCP software files from a computer.

The likelihood that you have been exposed to any security risk by using the program to uninstall the XCP technology is minimal. Nevertheless, for your protection, we are sending this notice to provide you with instructions as to how you may remove the XCP uninstaller files from your computer, curing any associated security risk.

Follow these instructions to remove the original uninstaller files:

1. Using Windows Explorer, go to WINDOWS\Downloaded Program Files\

2. Locate CodeSupport

3. Right click on the file and select Remove from the pop-up window

4. The file is now removed from you computer system

If you cannot find the file in the Windows\Downloaded Program folder then you should run a search for the file as follows:

1. Click Start.

2. Click to open "My Computer."

3. Press the key combination Ctrl + F to open the search window.

4. In the "Search for files or folders named" box, type codesupport.

The word "codesupport" does not contain a space.

5. Click Search Now.

6. If the file is located, right-click on the file to reveal a menu.

7. In the menu click to select the "Remove" option.

This choice forces Windows to safely uninstall the control.

If the file CodeSupport is not found then your computer is not affected.

We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. We are in the process of providing an updated version of the uninstaller program for the XCP content protection software through our customer support site http://cp.sonybmg.com/xcp. This web site also contains general information about XCP protection as well as the various additional steps SONY BMG has taken to address consumer concerns regarding the XCP software.

If you have any problems or questions regarding these instructions you may obtain help by clicking on the following link:

http://cp.sonybmg.com/xcp/english/contact.html

Your privacy is important to us. We have sent you this email to provide you with an important security update. We will not use your email for commercial purposes and will not provide it to any third parties.

Thank you for the opportunity to be of assistance.

The Sony BMG Online Support Team

CC2X

John

This message and any attachments are solely for the use of intended recipients. They may contain privileged and/or confidential information. If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that you received this email in error, and that any review, dissemination, distribution or copying of this email and any attachment is strictly prohibited. If you receive this email in error please contact the sender and delete the message and any attachments associated therewith from your computer. Your cooperation in this matter is appreciated.

Previous Reply Follows:

-----------------------

Thank you for contacting Sony BMG Online.

Sony BMG and First 4 Internet have just released an update that will completely remove the rootkit based DRM content protection software and replace it with a non-rootkit DRM technology that is compatible with all current security protocols. To ensure the security of your system, please visit their software update website to obtain and install Service Pack 2 at:

http://updates.xcp-aurora.com

If after this update, you still wish to uninstall our software, please visit the form below using the computer where the software is currently installed and you will be emailed an uninstall link within 1 business day (M-F).

http://cp.sonybmg.com/xcp/english/form9.html

Your "Case ID" is: .

TIP: Our uninstall request form will require a small ActiveX plug-in

(from First 4 Internet). Be sure to also temporarily turn off any

pop-up blocker software. Although a non-ActiveX process is in

development, currently, our online process is the only option.

Should you prefer to wait for the next uninstallation version,

one is due to be released later this month at:

http://cp.sonybmg.com/xcp/english/updates.html

Thank you for the opportunity to be of assistance.

The Sony BMG Online Support Team

CCKM

This message and any attachments are solely for the use of intended recipients. They may contain privileged and/or confidential information. If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that you received this email in error, and that any review, dissemination, distribution or copying of this email and any attachment is strictly prohibited. If you receive this email in error please contact the sender and delete the message and any attachments associated therewith from your computer. Your cooperation in this matter is appreciated.

Original Message Follows:

------------------------

Email Address:

Case ID :

Packet :

Artist Name :

Disk Title :

Store Name :

Country : USA

Language :

Problem Type : GENERAL FEEDBACK

Device Type :

Manufacturer :

PC Brand :

Model :

OS :

Auto Mfg :

Auto Model :

Auto Year :

Message : Uninstall Request