I recently wrote about Sony/BMG’s installing a rootkit into systems that use Sony/BMG compact discs labeled with a copyright protect sticker.

This was discovered by Mike Russinovich of SysInternals, who has written a handful of articles on how the malware works.  Yes it’s malware!  Corporate giant Sony is actually installs some form of virus into your system to make sure you don’t copy music off their CDs into MP3s (and possibly distribute them–illegally)!

Check out Mark’s posts:

1. DRM Gone bad


2. Sony’s rootkit phoning home


3. Rootkit creator responds


4. Sony reaaaaaaly doesn’t want to uninstall its rootkit!

How’s that for a corporate philosophy?

And now, it looks like someone has discovered how to take advantage of the rootkit, and actually released a trojan that rides on Sony’s software to wreak havoc on users’ systems.

According to the Register,

… the malware arrives attached in an email, which pretends to come from a

reputable business magazine, asking the businessman to verify his/her

“picture” to be used for the December issue. If the malicious payload

contained in this email is executed then the Trojan installs an IRC

backdoor on affected Windows systems.

This is DRM gone bad.

We’re in the subject, anyway.  So let’s talk about DRM.

Do

you think that ripping music from a CD into MP3s and distributing them

to your friends is downright wrong because it hurts the artists?

If so, then you’re wrong.

Distribution of music digitally hurts the recording companies, and not the artists.

Do you know how much an artist makes off royalties from each CD sale?  Maybe a couple of cents to a little less than a buck!

The

big studios–the holders of the publishing rights–get to earn the big

bucks.  Yes, the recording industry works that way.  You basically get

to sell your soul to the bigwigs!  The corporate giants have the rights

to your work, and pay you pennies apiece for selling your art.

The artists earn more off gigs and concerts, and maybe other commercial endorsements.

That’s why the MPAA and RIAA are so bent on killing online music distribution–it hurts their bottom-line.  And they argue that the artists are the ones that get hit.

Huh?

There

is this argument that open distribution of art works (including music)

is actually helpful to an artist’s exposure.  Not only do more people

get to love your work, they are actually influenced to buy your

stuff–more of it–after hearing what you have to give.

Piracy?  It’s not human nature to be evil.  We’re inherently good, aren’t we?

And

I think it should be perfectly all right–and within fair use–for a

person to rip into his/her computer the contents of whatever CD or DVD

he/she legally purchases, so as to enjoy the content through other

avenues, like on a portable media player or other device.

By instituting super-secure DRM (which can actually be cracked in less than a day by DVD Jon!), the publishing outfits are making it difficult for legal users to actually use their stuff in a fair manner.

They

tend to end up making life worse for their own clients, such as with

the case of Sony.  They’re frickin’ alienating us!  They’re making

pirates out of otherwise good citizens.

And worse, they install malware on our systems.

Shame on you, Sony!

You can never curb

big-time piracy.  The big-time pirates have all the equipment,

manpower, money, and reason (profit), to crack your stuff.  We end-users only

want to enjoy listening to music or watching movies for entertainment.

Life’s hard as it is.  Please don’t complicate it more!

Good reads/resources on intellectual property, copyright, privacy, and digital rights management:

• EFF – story on Sony’s rootkit


• TWiT – episode on Sony’s rootkit


• SecurityNow – ditto!

(via DIGG)

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