On Nov 10, 2005, at 8:26 PM, Raymond Horton wrote:
Once the true nature of the Sony BMG software tactic became public,
the company wasted no time in attempting to defuse the issue. Within
48 hours, it released a patch that makes its software visible again;
you can download it from http://cp.sonybmg.com/xcp. (Click the
Software Updates button.) Sony also provided the rootkit-cloaking
information to antivirus-software companies, so that the software will
no longer be a potential virus magnet.
At that same Web site, you'll find, incredibly, a link to a
Sony-sanctioned workaround that lets you copy the protected songs to
the iPod. (Sony says it will send you the workaround by e-mail once
you supply the name of the CD and other information.)
Finally, Sony has abandoned the rootkit protection method. (It says,
in fact, that it had planned to do so even before the trick became
public.) It still intends to install copy-protection software on every
audio CD-but it will use other methods.
For now, then, it seems that the cloaked-rootkit issue is dead. If you
bought one of the 20 affected CD's, you can uncloak the software, and
Sony won't be using this scheme anymore.
According to another article I read, uncloaking the software still
won't allow you to remove it without disabling your CD/DVD drive. You
are hosed in certain cases (as it crashes some versions of Windows),
unless you reformat.
Plus, I think just about anyone would balk at having to provide their
email address to a company in order to have physical access to content
they already have legal access to.
I'm glad (for now!) that I'm unaffected by this. Of course, at any time
that may change...
Christopher
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