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57 Comments
- IHaveIssues, on 10/12/2007, -4/+30I read all the posts previous to yours and see no one blaming Bush for anything. Have you stopped taking your meds?
- Jugalator, on 10/12/2007, -3/+24Come on, I know they often suck, but let's not blame this on UPS!
- kokobaroko, on 10/12/2007, -6/+25settlement = americans were ***** in the ass once more
real great you guys, real great - Agret, on 10/12/2007, -1/+20The agreement ( http://www.eff.org/IP/DRM/Sony-BMG/sony_settlement.pdf ) covers anyone who bought, received or used CDs containing what was revealed to be flawed digital rights management (DRM) software after Aug. 1, 2003. Those customers can file a claim and receive certain benefits, such as a nonprotected replacement CD, free downloads of music from that CD and additional cash payments.
Under the terms of the final settlement, Sony BMG definitively agreed to continue halting manufacture or distribution of CDs containing the two programs. (It stopped using XCP on its products in November 2005 and ceased using MediaMax about a month later, according to court filings.) - gadgetuk, on 10/12/2007, -2/+21Sooo... let's get this straight. Sony has to pay out what amounts to a few cents to everyone who can be bothered to complain about their purchase. Tut tut Sony.
Imagine a world where a naughty homebrew coder who finds a crafty way to install his/her rootkit on various people's machines through an email attachment. Wouldn't it be hilarious if his/her punishment were to be arrested at gunpoint under the powers of the DMCA and anti-terrorism laws brought in by the patriot act then sentenced to... hmm, finger in the air... 10 years in jail. HA HA! Surely I must be on crack to even imagine such a thing. - Gunnaf, on 10/12/2007, -0/+13Man, wonder who is making out here... Sony pays out the bare minimum to its customers affected by the rootkit issue, yet sues its users (AFAIK they are part of the RIAA) for something crazy like 150,000 per song illegally downloaded.
- uptown, on 10/12/2007, -1/+12Pay your Senator a pile of cash, and the laws can be in your favor too!
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9It's more significant than you think. I had one of these CDs and had a hell of a time getting rid of that annoying rootkit. I sure as hell will NEVER buy any CDs or music from Sony again. A bunch of my friends agree with me. If enough people do so, Sony will get the message. Nothing beats a boycott.
- rileyjt, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8Anyone know what the total cost of the fiasco ended up being for Sony?
While the settlement is pretty pitiful, I don't think the consumers would have been able to get a lot in court since it would be hard to prove actual damages. Now if some malware would have been widespread that took advantage of that rootkit, then we would have had a different story.
Most of Sony's costs probably came from having to stop production of those discs and then recall them. Of course the manufacturing costs are fairly neglible, but the recall costs could be much more significant. - uptown, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8Just remember... consumers shouldn't care about Sony's intrusion because they don't understand it.
http://digg.com/security/Sony_s_Thomas_Hesse:_What_users_don_t_know_can_t_hurt_them - tmcleroy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7***** sony
- inajeep, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8Just curious, how much did the attorney’s make?
- shade73, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8not to mention if they had some guy installed "vunerabilities" on their machines without knowing about it they would have thrown the guy *under* the jail + fined him to eternity and back. However, since they were the ones installing the "vunerabilities" it's OK, just pay a little fine and we'll call it even. Arg, big business makes me sick.
- cquinnd, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6No infra172, it really does not.
Wasn't there a news item recently about how some senator was lobbying to make sure judges had a better understanding of Patent law, to attempt curtailing some of the less informed decisions being upheld? - robwistar, on 10/12/2007, -2/+7@IHaveIssues:
I see this periodically ... perhaps a comment gets removed if it's modded down to a certain number? Anyone? - llbbl, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5BOYCOTT THOSE FSKERS
- camiller, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5http://cp.sonybmg.com/xcp/english/titles.html
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5You know, using the RIAA's logic, Sony SHOULD have to pay about $15,000 per CD they sold since you know, that person most likely would have ruined that many PC's with a single CD.
- ThatsUnpossible, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5What were you hoping for, a $10 coupon towards more Sony CD's? This was a lawsuit, not a criminal investigation. The benefit was Sony spending money and time on the legal battle, and losing face.
- SkeletaLlama, on 10/12/2007, -3/+8Nintendo didn't illegally install malware on my computer leaving me vulnerable to hackers and spyware. Microsoft didn't even do that to me. And neither MS or Nintendo is trying to sell me a $500 HD movie player that doesn't play HD movies. Thanks again for trying to ***** me in the ass Sony, but no thanks.
- astrotrain, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4I stay away from copy protectted cds... here's a good list to start Fat Chuck's site is down:
http://www.boycott-riaa.com/corrupt_cds
I noticed Amazon is starting to state if the CD is copy protected or not.
Protected CDs are a pain, if they don't work, your basically stuck with it, because the store will not
refund your money, and if the protection on the CD is the issue it is no good to get an exchange.
So for you Windows users, make sure your auto-play option is OFF! This will help prevent any
protection from automatically loading into your PC as soon as you insert the disk.
Music companies are just plain ignorant by placing this crap on CDs. If someone wants to copy
the cd they are going to do it, nothing will stop them. If they have to worry about protecting
Spear Britney, believe me they don't have to worry about that, the content of the album will
protect itself with nobody bothering to buy it.
RIAA and Music Companies have to realize : Bad Music = Bad Sales - VnutZ, on 10/12/2007, -3/+7You know ... this just goes to show that America's decision makers do not look deeply enough into the technical understanding of their IT specialists. Those that look at computers as 'too complicated' assume that anyone who can install programs 'understands' the machine and likewise takes their knowledge to be complete. If they really understood what rootkits were and what the implications behind this widespread distribution mechanism Sony provided, there would not have been a settlement. People need to educate themselves: http://www.omninerd.com/2005/11/22/articles/43
- camiller, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5No, you get to exchange your infected CD for a replacement without the bad code
and either:
A: $7.50 + one free album download or
B: three free album downloads
seems reasonable to me. I personally don't own any of the affected CD's but I know my brother-in-law has at least one, and I'll be helping him and other family members submit their claim forms. - zouhair, on 10/12/2007, -6/+10America the land of the Fr..UH THE ***** UPS
- Eccles, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3The settlement doesn't specify the total amount, but each of the plaintiffs got $1,000, and the attorneys got "reasonable" fees and expenses.
Frankly, this is better than most class-action results I've seen. Why? Sony has to give the class members something, not enough, but something, with no strings attached, not some cheesy discount coupon. Moreover, the plaintiffs didn't get a massive amount. And unquestionably, Sony was in the wrong, and deserved to have to pay out.
Congress passed the Class Action Fairness Act of 2005 which made coupons a less viable settlement, so if anything, this may have been better thanks to Bush and the Republicans. (And I say this as someone who has disliked Bush throughout his presidency.) Good work, guys. - Kwipper, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5That's alright. All Sony need to do for us consumers is label each CD with a warning that it has the Sony Rootkit on it, and we'll do our best to avoid buying them. Infact... how about this. From here on out, just avoid buying Sony published CD's alltogether. It's an endless cycle. Companies add DRM's to their CD's to prevent music piracy and the consumers avoid the DRM's buy not buying CD's and getting them through illegal means.
- hazmat007, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Personally I'm tired of sony. the whole root kit ordeal was the last straw for me. i will do my best not to buy any sony product in the future. Will that make a difference to sony? Probably not, but at least i won't have to worry about my computer being compromised or my home theater system ***** the bed on me anymore.
- robbh66, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3stop spamming your stupid submitt in other threads
- humblepatience, on 10/12/2007, -3/+6600$ pricetag will do the boycotting for us...don't you think? I wish Final Fantasy was on another console
: - uptown, on 10/12/2007, -3/+6...slap on the wrist.
- senormouse, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2This settlement sounds about as toothless as the class action against Western Digital. $7.50 rings a bell. Worse for Sony is the timing of the settlement on the heels of their E3 public relations gaffe.
- ericrous, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2It's amazing after all this time that people haven't realized that class action suits neither help the consumer (who usually gets a laughable pittance out of them) nor punish the company (who makes what amounts to a token payment to a few customers in exchange for immunity from the other million customers they no longer have to worry about suing them). Class action suits are REALLY about the greedy, scumbag lawyers who walk away with millions.
- ajb2015, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Imagine what kind a punishment your everyday hacker would have got for such an offense.
- MissPinkKate, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Why would Sony only content protect lame CDs that nobody wants to buy anyway?
- gerkin, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Hardly fair at all, you get a rootkit, another copy of an overpriced CD and coupons to buy MORE of their overpriced audio material, with OTHER DRM on them. I boycotted Sony/BMG when this all went down and this is not enough to win my trust back. /me hugs his mac.
- MoonKing, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2RE: dharm (refreshed page and forgot to click reply again)
Everyone called it a rootkit, not just digg users.
Answers.com calls rootkits "A type of Trojan that keeps itself, other files, registry keys and network connections hidden from detection. It enables an attacker to have "root" access to the computer, which means it runs at the lowest level of the machine." From reports that I saw, this was true of the software on the CD.
Maybe people will just digg your comment negatively because you come off as such a dick. - mirunit, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1wow im gonna mark your submit as spam, why do you have to invade every discussion with your submit links?
- kualla, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1well stealing a CD at the store gets you a fine around $150 dollars or so, stealing a song off the internet can cost you $5,000 per song and easily past $50,000 for a full CD's worth of songs so I would think someone hacking into your computer and stealing you porno collection and everything else on it would cost you a couple billion dollars but Sony only has to pay $7.50 so im not too sure how that one works out... maybe you have to pay a super secret corrupt goverment official???
- centinall, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1what about the cost involved in having to clean up the crap that it put on your computer. from what I've read (and please correct me if i'm wrong), the solutions provided by sony were far from adequate. where's the proper solution to fixing the average joe's computer? what about even letting the average joe know about how their computer maybe at risk? of course fony will never go out of their way to let the public know of what terrible things they're up to.
- llbbl, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2BOYCOTT EVERYTING SONY INCLUDING THE PS3
- Kwipper, on 10/12/2007, -4/+5Dude. I Hate the PS3 because of it's 600 pricetag, but this comment is irrevelant. Therefore, you get digged down from me, not for bashing Sony's PS3 but for straying off topic.
Try to remain on topic next time. - compu73rg33k, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3Sony fscks their harddrives?
- ZamboniDriver, on 10/12/2007, -3/+4Blame it on the lawyers. Guys like John Edwards make HUGE DOUGH on stuff like this. What do common citizens get? A coupon. Or, if you're willing to pay $8.95 for shipping, a brand new "replacement" CD. Lawyers like John Edwards will make $50 to $100 million.
- kualla, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Im going for option A:
"$7.50 + one free album download "
But now what about when my DVD burner stopped working in the computer that got infected with the rootkit and would only work on my super-slow older computer that would only limit me to 2x write speeds and a majority of the time the DVD burns turned out to be junk all because a rootkit affected my DVD burner drive?
Then after several months of frustration I decide to format my main computer and have to loose several hours having to reinstall software and configuring the software all over again instead of being able to enjoy my weekend or making extra money working some overtime?
Then to finally sit back and enjoy a few songs on my computer to finally realize exactly what caused all the trouble in the first place and then start the process all over again. Then a few months later find out Sony purposly put this software onto their CD's.
Minimum wage X ~30 hours = A
or
Normal salary X ~30 hours = B
or
Overtime pay X ~30 hours = C
or
Time off not being stressed out fixing a computer all over a @#$*(#$ SONY disc! = D
Sony owes more than a lousy damn $7.50, how about A + B + C + D and then a PS3 and a baseball bat for anger management!!! - knupso, on 10/12/2007, -5/+5It's cool you can digg it down all you want. I just posted it cause I knew if I didn't some other jackass would.
- Hubris, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2Bad Sony - Bad!nnMy cat receives worse punishments when it breaks things. Hopefully the other pending lawsuits have better success.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1The consumer loses?
I wasn't aware there was any sort of conflict going on. Sony ***** up and courts made it right. What's the problem? Don't get me wrong, I'm no fan of Sony's, but you make it sound as if the consumer is completely helpless in the matter. - Meshyf, on 10/12/2007, -3/+3God damn the legal system in America is frustrating...
EQUALITY yayayayayayayayyayaya wait whats that again? - NSMike, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2Anyone have a list of the CDs in question? I don't know if any that I bought have rootkit software because I don't often play my CDs in my stereo, mostly they stay in my car.
- justthisguyyano, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Whether or not an individual is ignorant or the malware was a rootkit or not isn't the point. Sony BMG caused software to be loaded onto people's systems without their knowledge or reasonable consent. Period.
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