Sony's problem

If anything is going to spur the push towards non-CD music purchases, it’s going to be Sony issuing malware cds.

The software, which Sony included on 20 or more recent CDs, gives no warning of the rootkit, nor does it inform users that it prompts PCs to contact a Sony website for updated lyrics or art, and in the process, reveals the user’s internet address and details about how often the CD has been played.

What worries me most about this whole issue, though, is not that I might have any hidden software on my PCs (I doubt I’ve played a music CD from Sony in years), but that a major company has resorted to spyware as a DRM measure.

Anyone who’s active online knows what spyware is, and knows in a more or less general way how to deal with it. It’s fairly easy to avoid if you stick to using legitimate sites and legitimate download files. Spyware and malware as sort of the “price” you pay for using illegal file-sharing programs and wandering around shady porn or warez sites.

But Sony is not exactly a marginal player, however much I dislike them (and I do dislike them, I think the only good thing Sony’s brought into the world in the past three decades was the Walkman). If consumers are paying for mainstream products like music CDs, and getting spyware? That’s bad news. That means that major companies think it’s OK for them to install virus-like software on your computer without asking, after you’ve paid for their product.

No thank you.

There are a bunch of wonderful things about always-on internet. Sneaky bastards invading my computer is not one of them.