Sony DRM (Digital Rights Management) - be careful out there!

[bmcmeen]

It's been going around the techie sites this week.

It seems that Sony is in a pissing contest with Apple and iTunes. Sony is making their music CDs incompatible with iTunes (and other players) if you use Windows. You must agree to use Sony's player to play the CD.

However, Sony also installs something called a rootkit on your system, a hidden set of software that's buried deep. Rootkits are associated with spyware and viruses and cannot be easily found or uninstalled. While Sony's doesn't necessarily do anything malicious, the fact that it allows any filename beginning with $sys$ to be hidden from the system means that a hacker can easily produce a virus that your scanner will never find.

Yeah, this gets a bit technical...

Here's what a rootkit is: http://www.sysinternals.com/Utilities/RootkitRevealer.html

Here's a description of Sony's rootkit: http://www.sysinternals.com/blog/2005/10/sony-rootkits-and-digital-rights.html

 

[kmcconaughey]

Bryan, hmmmmm with one of these is installed you could easily get back to a "pre rootkit" state. )

 

[bmcmeen]

Kraig -

 

[kmcconaughey]

Bryan, I thought you'd like that. However, no one will know why you're laughing.......

 

[kmcconaughey]

Perhaps I should have posted that link in the classifieds..........

<font size="-2">hint</font>

 

[bmcmeen]

Kraig -

Got a SATA version yet?

 

[kmcconaughey]

Bryan, hmmmm we could test one with IDE to SATA dongles on it for you. I'm currently working on a PCB layout of a different product that'll have both SATA and IDE built in. We also have made some IDE to SATA/SATA to IDE dongles to test our circuit, it worked. )

 

[klindstedt]

O.K., I'll bite. Kraig, do you do PCB design for VOOM Technologies?

I used to do PCB design for a company that made custom industrial controls. In fact, one of our customers was in Beloit, WI - Isn't that somewhere near your location? Their name was/is Vortron - they made commercial meat smokers. I loved that job, that is until Emerson bought out our company and closed down that aspect of it and eliminated my job.

What do you use for laying out the PCBs? When I was doing it, we didn't have any automated layout software - just AutoCAD and my imagination!

 

[bmcmeen]

Dang, and here I thought I was hot stuff in grade school with my Radio Shack resist pen building a digital anemometer...

 

[klindstedt]

Hmmm... should've looked at a map. Beloit is about as close to me in Indiana as it is to you!

Had to look up anemometer to find out WTH it is. I knew it was some sort of weather thing.

 

[kmcconaughey]

Kevin, I use PCAD, though years ago (early 80's) I had to edit some old layouts on mylar film and stick on vias, with various width black tape. I also do some enclosure design and for that I use QuickCAD, though none of my enclosure designs are shown on the Voom website.

(Message edited by kmcconaughey on November 03, 2005)

 

[mbounds]

Bryan...This mornings Dallas Morning News ran an item that said that Sony had issued a "fix" to identify the imbed and separately had a delete available. I'm not sure I believe them (Sony/BMG)...
Myron B

 

[bmcmeen]

Myron -

Our net admin sent me that story late last night. I believe that they have a patch. What it does exactly we'll have to wait and see.

But then isn't this the Sony way? Proprietary memory sticks, Betamax, players for their music CDs, portable players that don't do MP3...