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Excellent Summary of the Sony Mess

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Bruce Schneier posted an excellent summary if this mess. This could have gone into the Virus/Spyware forum also, but this article focuses on the ethics of Sony's nd AV vendors actions.


Being that I have alternatives, I know I for one, won't be buying any Sony products for a long time.

Jeff
[purple]It's never too early to begin preparing for [/purple]International Talk Like a Pirate Day

"The software I buy sucks, The software I write sucks. It's time to give up and have a beer..." - Me
 
Click to expand...
I think there is a 3rd shoe that is yet to get dropped in this incident, and that is the role of DMCA to the 2 parties mentioned above. This got mentioned in some of the comments to the article, but in a nutshell, Sony could probably hold DMCA over the heads of AV vendors if they wanted. That may have already happened, I doubt it, but clearly AV players had given a "pass" at some level to the Sony DRM software.

Their hand is now forced, as they more or less have to at the minimum detect DRM "holes" lest they be upstaged by all the independent researchers like Russinovich who are probably now engaged in the "Great DRM Treasure Hunt.
 
Yes DMCA adds to the mess in the US, however there are a number of legal actions starting up elsewhere in the world. Sony's got problems and their lawyers will be busy for quite a while.

Jeff
[purple]It's never too early to begin preparing for [/purple]International Talk Like a Pirate Day

"The software I buy sucks, The software I write sucks. It's time to give up and have a beer..." - Me
 
The other record companies have been watching all this, and it looks like Sony has set back the concept of protecting CD content by a number of years.

Chip H.


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I still think it would be a good idea to launch a permanent boycott of Sony music anyway. With things like I-tunes, who needs to buy their music at Best Buy or Media Play?

All the record companies want to do this kind of garbage. It is one of the most crooked industries on Earth.
 
Is Capitol/EMI part of the Sony/BMG group?
I bought a CD (Beastie Boys - Solid Gold Hits :-D), and when I got it home, I noticed the "Content Protected" logo on it.

How can I know that something isn't already in these CDs...

-------------------------
Just call me Captain Awesome.
 
Am I wrong here (cause I haven't bought a big label CD in ages) or can't you put an audio CD into your PC and when it asks to install the "extras", just say no thank you and listen to the CD via any player...

or is this "protection" more insidious and running itself completely behind the scenes?

I'm talking about the initial installation of one of these CDs mind you... I realize that once it is on, then the next CD won't necessarily attempt to re-install anything.

~Thadeus
 
Do a Google on CD copy protection. There have been protected CDs for a few years. In the past, disabling AutoRun, holding the shift key down, blacking out the outer track of the disk, etc. was enough to defeat most of these. What Sony's done is actively damaging to your machine, which, of course, is much worse.

Sony, in general, is not a good company. They're also under investigation for price fixing. They're jacking prices up to online retailers, to try and prevent them from underselling brick and mortar stores. Do some searching and you will find other unsavory practices as well.

Jeff
[purple]It's never too early to begin preparing for [/purple]International Talk Like a Pirate Day

"The software I buy sucks, The software I write sucks. It's time to give up and have a beer..." - Me
 
Thadeus,
With the new CDs (Apparently, I haven't tried yet), it won't let you play it in Windows Media Player, or Win Amp, or etc. You HAVE to install their player to listen to your CD.

What Sony has done, is install something else when you're told (in the EULA) that you're only getting a media player.

-------------------------
Just call me Captain Awesome.
 
Thank you grande for addressing my question. I don't believe you can be fully correct though...

If the files are not CDA format then they cannot be played via a standard (nonPC) stereo component CD player. Unless I'm mistaken on that point (though I don't see how I could be)

If they are CDA format then I still don't get why the installation of the RK code cannot be bypassed in the first place... just avoid the Sony player.

~Thadeus
I don't pretend to know enough to speak knowledgably, but enough to speak dangerously? yes that I can muster.
 
from the article sleipnir posted:
"After more than five years of trying, the recording industry has not yet demonstrated a workable DRM scheme for music CDs," Gartner concludes. It reckons the music industry will abandon attempts to encumber CDs with DRM software and refocus its efforts on pushing legislation to require that DRM technology be integrated into PCs. ®
Click to expand...

Again and again I question the sanity of the RIAA, et al.
And then I must question myself each time...

The only way to disable the copying of music is stop recording music. It's that simple.

Otherwise, it will always be possible for pirates to make copies of audible sound.

The only people put off by this will be audiophiles who desire one-off-the-master recordings. Everyone else will be able to have all of the digital music they desire, on the cheap.

I believe that the music industry will either undergo a dramatic reformation of their business model or go the way of the square-wheel guild.

~Thadeus
 
I'd bet money that it's going to go square-wheeled on us.

I mean think about it, why can't I go into HMV (or Future Shop, or Sunrise, or anywhere that sells CDs) with my MP3 player, plug it into a terminal, and buy the latest album?

The technology for something like that has been available since MP3s hit the scene, but it seems the majors are reluctant to try anything new.

Record companies are going to have to face the facts that one day (sooner, rather than later) store-bought CDs are going to go the way of the 8-track.

-------------------------
Just call me Captain Awesome.
 
As incensed as I am about this whole thing, it seems that the general public is oblivious and keeps buying the bad stuff without asking questions.
From what I've read, the XCP affair has not even put a dent in the CD sales, despite lawsuits being loudly advertised.

Seems that the number of people putting CDs in their PC is too small to be of importance. So SONY continues to get revenue from DRM-infected products, and the vast majority doesn't care.

Saying that just underlines how stupid DRM is in the first place. If the people DRM bothers are vanishingly small proportion of your customer base, where is the financial incentive in creating and implementing DRM ?
 
Plus, for anyone who half-way knows what they're doing can easily get around these products.

Sony has really put themselves in a No-Win situation.

-------------------------
Just call me Captain Awesome.
 
Shneier_article said:
After all, if you can't trust Sony not to infect your computer when you buy its music CDs, can you trust it to sell you an uninfected computer in the first place?
Click to expand...
Anyone with a Vaio checked this out??


Thadeus said:
The only way to disable the copying of music is stop recording music. It's that simple.
Click to expand...
True, because you can always resample it by looping the Line Out back to the Line In. Very little, if anything, is lost if you have a good sound card.

Mostly DRM schemes just make it a pain, and for a majority of people, it seems to work.
--Jim

 
DRM will only stop the "honest" people from copying the CD. Those of us who really want an MP3 of the CD will make one.

As jsteph points out there's nothing stopping me from looping the line out to the line in and recording it that way. When they come up with a way around that, I've got two computers, both with sound cards. I could always link the line out from one to the line in on the other.

The RIAA just needs to releise that no matter how much money they through into the DRM software the geeks of the world will always find a way around it.

Denny
MCSA (2003) / MCDBA (SQL 2000)

--Anything is possible. All it takes is a little research. (Me)
[noevil]
 
I think the RIAA and Co know it very well. All this huffing and puffing is just posturing for the media, to get attention and to draw attention away from the fact that music sales are fine, thank you very much.

It is curious, though, that with all those grandmothers who have been sued, the public at large has not decided that enough is enough already.

Maybe when you'll have to get a number tatooed to your forehead before being allowed to buy music that you can only listen to with the approved recorder of RIAA's choice - which will, of course, report everything you do with it to RIAA SWAT HQ - maybe then, people will simply decide to stop putting up with all this nonsense.

Maybe.

Pascal.
 
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