In skimming around the net I’ve repeatedly come across this story (and here), which seems important enough to pass on.
In a nutshell, Sony chose to protect its music products from copyright infringement by installing an undetectable piece of malware that secretly contacts Sony HQ when the user plays a Sony product, without providing an uninstall option. Sony quietly issued a buggy “patch” that opens up the user’s computer to even more security risks, and the obtaining of which appears to log the recipient onto yet another spam list. Read the links to get the full details.
Being an avid user of Sony products myself, this hits close to home. This story is making me seriously reconsider my decision to pick up one of those Sony android servants with the optional spinning blade and lasers.
***Update***
Mark Russinovitch’s blog broke this story open. Go here if you want the technical skiny on how this stupid mess came to be.
Sony’s Disastrous Stab At Copyright ProtectionPost + Comments (15)