[Clips] Sony suspends copy-protection scheme on CDs

[R. A. Hettinga]

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 Delivered-To: clips at philodox.com
 Date: Fri, 11 Nov 2005 18:13:46 -0500
 To: Philodox Clips List <clips at philodox.com>
 From: "R. A. Hettinga" <rah at shipwright.com>
 Subject: [Clips] Sony suspends copy-protection scheme on CDs
 Reply-To: rah at philodox.com
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 <http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/business/technology/personal_technology/13143693.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp>

 The San Jose Mercury News

 Posted on Fri, Nov. 11, 2005?

 Sony suspends copy-protection scheme on CDs




 WASHINGTON (AP) - Stung by continuing criticism, the world's second-largest
 music label, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, promised Friday to temporarily
 suspend making music CDs with antipiracy technology that can leave
 computers vulnerable to hackers.

 Sony defended its right to prevent customers from illegally copying music
 but said it will halt manufacturing CDs with the ``XCP'' technology as a
 precautionary measure. ``We also intend to re-examine all aspects of our
 content protection initiative to be sure that it continues to meet our
 goals of security and ease of consumer use,'' the company said in a
 statement.

 The antipiracy technology, which works only on Windows computers, prevents
 customers from making more than a few copies of the CD and prevents them
 from loading the CD's songs onto Apple Computer's popular iPod portable
 music players. Some other music players, which recognize Microsoft's
 proprietary music format, would work.

 Sony's announcement came one day after leading security companies disclosed
 that hackers were distributing malicious programs over the Internet that
 exploited the antipiracy technology's ability to avoid detection. Hackers
 discovered they can effectively render their programs invisible by using
 names for computer files similar to ones cloaked by the Sony technology.

 A senior Homeland Security official cautioned entertainment companies
 against discouraging piracy in ways that also make computers vulnerable.
 Stewart Baker, assistant secretary for policy at DHS, did not cite Sony by
 name in his remarks Thursday but described industry efforts to install
 hidden files on consumers' computers.

 ``It's very important to remember that it's your intellectual property,
 it's not your computer,'' Baker said at a trade conference on piracy. ``And
 in the pursuit of protection of intellectual property, it's important not
 to defeat or undermine the security measures that people need to adopt in
 these days.''

 Sony's program is included on about 20 popular music titles, including
 releases by Van Zant and The Bad Plus.

 ``This is a step they should have taken immediately,'' said Mark
 Russinovich, chief software architect at Winternals Software who discovered
 the hidden copy-protection technology Oct. 31 and posted his findings on
 his Web log. He said Sony did not admit any wrongdoing, nor did it promise
 not to use similar techniques in the future.

 Security researchers have described Sony's technology as ``spyware,''
 saying it is difficult to remove, transmits without warning details about
 what music is playing, and that Sony's notice to consumers about the
 technology was inadequate. Sony executives have rejected the description of
 their technology as spyware.

 Some leading antivirus companies updated their protective software this
 week to detect Sony's antipiracy program, disable it and prevent it from
 reinstalling.

 After Russinovich criticized Sony, it made available a software patch that
 removed the technology's ability to avoid detection. It also made more
 broadly available its instructions on how to remove the software
 permanently. Customers who remove the software are unable to listen to the
 music CD on their computer.

 ------

 On the Web:

 Sony's XCP Page: http://cp.sonybmg.com/xcp

 Russinovich's Blog: www.sysinternals.com/Blog

 Symantec warning:

 http://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/securityrisk.aries.html

 Computer Associates warning:

 http://www3.ca.com/securityadvisor/newsinfo/collateral.aspx?cid=76345


 --
 -----------------
 R. A. Hettinga <mailto: rah at ibuc.com>
 The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/>
 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA
 "... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity,
 [predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to
 experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'
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-- 
-----------------
R. A. Hettinga <mailto: rah at ibuc.com>
The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/>
44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA
"... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity,
[predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to
experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'

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