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Sony DRM Is, Well, Evil

Author
Ethan Poole
Date
Sun 13 Nov 2005 at 16:43

Late last month, users discovered that Sony's copy-protected CDs would automatically install digital rights management (DRM) software onto your computers, when you played their CDs in your CD-ROM drive. This DRM software is a root kit, a type of Trojan horse. The software creeps itself onto your machine, installs itself, and then compromises the security of your computer.

The root kit could potentially allow other hackers to take complete control of your system. Users have already reported that when they attempted to remove the software it broke their CD-ROM drive. If Sony can do this, then can we even guess what hackers might be able to do?

You can read more on the topic in Molly Wood's column - DRM this, Sony! (external link)

Another scary part of the story is that Sony has been doing this for over a year, and it has just been discovered. On the up side, Sony has agreed to discontinue including the DRM software on their CDs, after thousands of CDs already have the software on them. They have provided an "uninstaller," although no one has reported that it works.

Then they wonder why CD sales are down...

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