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Yay Sony!

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contingencyplan:
I don't know if y'all have heard about this, but recently Sony has come under fire for distributing software with their music CDs that requires you to install the software before you can play the CD on your computer. The software was found to contain a rootkit - essentially a piece of software that attempts to mask itself from the user on the operating-system level (i.e., not something you can find by selecting "Show Hidden Files"). I won't take time to rehash the story here - you can find it on numerous places, such as Wikipedia (they have a whole fricking article about it - I love Wikipedia) and Ars Technica.

The latest news is that Sony is now trying to undo the damage by recalling all the CDs that include the software. All I can say is it's about fricking time - they never should have done it to begin with.

The problem is that the music industry is now trying to stop people from ripping their CDs to their computers. I don't know about y'all, but that just screams "fair use violation" at me... What do y'all think?

edit: And apparently, you can circumvent the whole process with tape. Go figure.

Morgul:
Well, I still don't think that it's going to do them any good. I still have my SounBlaster 128, with orriginal install cd. On there is a windows mixer replacement that allows me to record from the wave output... but unlike newer piece of software, this litterally is redirecting the analog output of the A/D convert to the analog input on the recording side of the A/D. So, no ripping prevention in the world will stop that card from being able to rip songs esentially losslessly. Here's another thing to think about... Linux. There's not such thing as a root kit for linux. If they wanted support for something like that, they would prolly need to get it included in the kernel, which I don't think could ever happen. Even if there are other ways found (there's always another way to do anything) there's always the option of people doing Linux From Scratch, or Gentoo, and leaving that part out. So, I highly doubt this will ever do anything more than increase the spyware count on someone's Adaware scan.

Also... I bet Apple will step onto the scene soon. They're not very tolerant of the RIAA's antics. Look at them with the iTunes/Pepsi commercials. Their big seller is iPods, and iPods are only good if users can rip songs from thier cd's to the iPod through iTunes. If the RIAA takes that away, Apple will be hella pissed... since iPod sales would drop wuite a bit. (What would the point be? Sure, you can buy music and send it to you ipod... but most people won't pay $300 for a 20 gig iPod, and then $6000 for enough songs to fill said iPod. Atleast the 20 Gig iPod woudl be doomed.)

contingencyplan:
Well, rootkits are actually quite common on UNIX-style systems - they are a major way of compromising security on them. I don't know enough about it, but think about it - "root"-kit is something that lets you gain root-level access to the system. Such a term originated with UNIX systems, where the root user is the god of the system. It doesn't require hacking the kernel - most of the time, it's just a program that's stuck on there that intercepts stuff in transit. Or something - I'm probably just talking out of my ass here.

As far as Apple, I'm glad that Steve Jobs called the RIAA and the recording industry on the prospect of raising the prices for songs. He said it right: they're just plain greedy. I would have thrown a couple choicer words in there myself, but maybe that's just me. But the music industry is wanting to get a cut of the iPod thing too. Go greed.

*mutters under breath*

contingencyplan:
And this just in - Texas is gonna sue Sony. This is one reason why I like Texas - we go after jerks like this.

Morgul:
That alone is enough reason for me to reconsider my Grad School choices. Damn, I have a good deal of respect for Texas.

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