Sony is facing
legal action in California, New York and Italy for covertly installing software on customer's computers which inadvertently makes the machine a more viable target for virus writers. Much to my chagrin a CD I own appears on the
list of offending discs. To make matters worse, it's the lastest CD from one of my favorite bands. According to the EFF, Healthy in Paranoid Times by
Our Lady Peace is among CDs which installs the hidden software. The 'rootkit' software primarily effects Windows PCs but a stripped down version is installed on Macs. My machine is unaffected because I run Mandriva Linux. Even so the whole situation is disconcerting.
The original intent of the software was to provide Digital Rights Management which makes it more difficult to copy CDs to a digital format such as mp3. The software has also been
reported to "phone home" to Sony informing the company when the CD is played on the computer. A number of Anti-Virus and Adware companies have taken the action of classifying the software as spyware. It has been reported that viruses have appeared in the wild exploiting the hole opened by Sony's software. CNET provides a nice
summary.
Update: Our Lady Peace's official website says that Healthy in Paranoid Times does not install the rootkit software. The EFF still contends that it does. Early next week I'm going setup a test machine and determine who is lying.
The following is a quote from OurLadyPeace.net:
"Hi there, I'm sure that OLP fans will be very confused about the recent RootKit issue that has come to light. We want to assure OLP fans that the Dual Discs in both the USA and Canada , and the CDN "CD only" versions are not affected by the Root Kit Problem. If you have any concerns please email website_feedback@sonybmg.ca."
