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Sony DRM Installs a Rootkit?

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Mon Oct 31, 2005 06:04 PM
from the slice-of-privacy-pie dept.
Security Privacy
An anonymous read writes "SysInternals.com guru Mark Russinovich has a detailed investigation of a rootkit from Sony Music. It's installed with a DRM-encumbered music CD, Van Zant's "Get Right with the Man". (Mmmm, delicious irony!) The rootkit introduces several security holes into the system that could be exploited by others, such as hiding any executable file that starts with '$sys$'. Russinovich also identifies several programming bugs in the method it uses to hook system calls, and chronicles the painful steps he had to take to 'exorcise the daemon' from his system." This house is clear.
+ -
story

Related Stories

[+] Your Rights Online: EFF Pushes Consumers to Claim Rootkit Compensation 189 comments
An anonymous reader writes "'It's time for music fans who bought Sony BMG CDs loaded with harmful XCP or MediaMax copy protection to claim their settlement benefits', says the EFF's Derek Slater in an awareness campaign that is urging those inflicted with one of Sony BMG's rootkit infected CDs to collect what is due to them. The compensation is a DRM-free version of the original CD, $7.50, and album downloads from iTunes, Sony Connect, and others."
[+] Your Rights Online: Sony Rootkit Settlement Gets Judge's Approval 187 comments
Lewis Clarke wrote to mention a ZDNet story about Monday's final approval of the rootkit settlement in the case brought against Sony BMG Music. From the article: "The agreement 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 ... At least 15 different lawsuits were filed by class action lawyers against the record label, and the New York cases were eventually consolidated into one proceeding. The parties reached a preliminary settlement with Sony BMG in December, leaving it up to a judge in a U.S. District Court in New York to make it official. "
[+] Your Rights Online: Sony Settles With FTC Over Rootkits 133 comments
The FTC has struck a deal with Sony punishing Sony for the rootkits it included on millions of CDs in 2005. The deal is exactly like the Texas and California settlements — $150 a rootkit. The settlement isn't final yet. There will be a 30-day public consultation. American citizens who read Slashdot might want to put in their two cents. Comments will be accepted through March 1 at: FTC, Office of the Secretary, Room H-135, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20580 (snail mail only). Here is the FTC page announcing the settlement.
[+] News: FTC Warns Against Deceptive DRM 159 comments
Jane Q. Public writes "At the Federal Trade Commission's Seattle conference on DRM, FTC Director Mary Engle started off by referencing the Sony rootkit debacle, and said that companies are going to have to get serious about disclosing DRM that may affect the usability of products. She also said that disclosure via the fine print in a EULA is not good enough, and 'If your advertising giveth and your EULA taketh away, don't be surprised if the FTC comes calling.' Transcripts and webcasts are available from the FTC website." Update 18:13 GMT by SM: as Jane Q. Public was nice enough to diplomatically point out, the webcasts are no longer functioning, but transcripts are still available.
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  • My question: (Score:5, Interesting)

    by conJunk (779958) on Monday October 31 2005, @06:05PM (#13919067)
    Now is that *sony's* rootkit, or a soon-to-be-former-sony-employer's rootkit?

    • Re:My question: (Score:5, Interesting)

      by ryanr (30917) * <ryan@thievco.com> on Monday October 31 2005, @06:11PM (#13919136) Homepage Journal
      If you read the article, there's a strong implication that this is a purchased commercial rootkit. Presumably, Sony very deliberately licensed and distributed it.

      Mark didn't get into a lot of detail about all of the functions, but he didn't mention any backdoors or phone home functionality.

      • Re:My question: (Score:5, Interesting)

        by networkBoy (774728) on Monday October 31 2005, @06:14PM (#13919153) Homepage Journal
        Honestly, I see this as a real exposure to a lawsuit. If I accidently install this rootkit on my system, then try to remove it (seeing as it looks like a genuine security breach) and then disable my computer, thus having to bring it in for service what then?. If a malware company uses the rootkits ability to hide $sys$ prefixed files and uses that to steal my identity, costing me thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours of time to get my identity back, can I sue?

        -nB

        • Sony is protected by the DMCA (Score:5, Interesting)

          by dmoen (88623) on Monday October 31 2005, @06:46PM (#13919414) Homepage
          I see this as a real exposure to a lawsuit. If I accidently install this rootkit on my system, then try to remove it...

          If you do this, then you are deliberately disabling a copy protection system, which is illegal under the DMCA. So Sony can sue you.

          [Note: this varies with your jurisdiction. No DMCA in Canada, yet.]

          Doug Moen.

          • Re:Sony is protected by the DMCA (Score:5, Insightful)

            by hazem (472289) on Monday October 31 2005, @06:50PM (#13919451) Journal
            Doug, I think you're wrong.

            I can disable a copy protection system on my own computer - specifically removing it. They didn't have permission to put it there, and I think it would be a tough case to prosecute me for repairing my own computer. My computer is not Sony's medium to do with as they please - it's MINE - I paid for it, and I licensed the software.

            Now, removing the protection from their media - or extracing the content and freeing it from the DRM, yes, that's circumvention, and probably prosecutable under the DMCA.

            But my computer is MINE and they don't have the right to secretly fuck with it.

                • Re:Sony is protected by the DMCA (Score:5, Interesting)

                  by indigoid (3724) on Monday October 31 2005, @07:14PM (#13919632) Homepage
                  indeed. for the purpose of deciding who is running something, is autorun.inf "us" or "them" ?

                • Sony is flirting with trouble... (Score:5, Interesting)

                  by TiggertheMad (556308) on Monday October 31 2005, @07:54PM (#13919895) Homepage Journal
                  They don't put it there. You do. They just packaged it for you. If you didn't want to give them permission to run arbitrary executables on your computer, then WHY DID YOU RUN THEIR EXECUTABLE??

                  IANAL, however, I believe that contracts that are made in bad faith, or with the intent to decieve a particpant are not binding. If this is the case, I think that I wouldn't be hard to argue in a court that you have no obligation to keep Sony's rootkit (by deffinition an illicit and deceptive tool) on your computer. Moreover, you might also be entitled to damages resulting from said 'bad faith' agreement.

                  Even if my assessment isn't quite correct, it seems to me that it is probably fuzzy enough of a point to invite litigation. If I were a multimillion(billion?) dollar company I wouldn't be the one to test the legal water on something like this.

                • Re:Sony is protected by the DMCA (Score:5, Informative)

                  by shibashaba (683026) on Monday October 31 2005, @08:01PM (#13919944)
                  Consumer puts a cd into their computer with the intention of playing the cd. The cd takes advantage of a feature in Windows and installs software in the background without your knowledge. No court would find Sony not liable for damagaes caused because the user didn't disable autorun. It's the same as an email viruses, just because the user never turned off macros doesn't let the person who runs the virus off the hook.

                  This isn't the first time Sony's had this idea. Years ago they asked someone to write a virus to subliminally provide marketing to people. This motivated the person they asked to write a book called Coercion.

        • Re:My question: (Score:5, Insightful)

          by slavemowgli (585321) on Monday October 31 2005, @06:47PM (#13919422) Homepage
          You can always sue. The real question is: will you win? And even though IANAL, I'd say you have a pretty good case here; if the EULA does not even *mention* any of this, then it probably constitutes an illegal act.

        • Answer: This is truly evil (Score:5, Insightful)

          by shanen (462549) on Monday October 31 2005, @06:50PM (#13919454) Homepage Journal
          So should I sell all of my Sony stock, or buy more?

          Seriously speaking, this shows two things. One is yet another demonstration of the fundamental evil of Microsoft's "security" model. Even if you weren't running as root/Administrator (and everyone does, don't they?), then the "reputable" installation from the "reputable" company would just ask you to elevate your privileges.

          The other thing is that power is always abused. If not now and by Sony, then tomorrow by some other "reputable" company. (Or put on your tin hat and say "Yesterday by the NSA.")

          I hope they track this story, and if it is not another misguided /. rumor, I certainly hope that Sony repudiates the technique and the software. Soon.

          Then they should apologize.

          Then sack the person responsible.

          Then sack the person responsible for not sacking the responsible person earlier.

          [Infinite loop warning.]

    • Re:My question: (Score:5, Informative)

      by interiot (50685) on Monday October 31 2005, @06:16PM (#13919167) Homepage
      The rootkit is by First 4 Internet [first4internet.co.uk]. It's possible that Sony simply purchased this DRM from this outside company, not realizing that the DRM contained a rootkit.

      Still, one would hope that Sony would only choose reputable suppliers, ones who wouldn't allow a virus/trojan to be distributed intentially or even through neglect.

      • Re:My question: (Score:5, Insightful)

        by eln (21727) on Monday October 31 2005, @06:36PM (#13919333) Homepage
        And nobody at Sony bothered to vet a piece of software that was destined to be shipped with millions of CDs? It's beyond absurd that a company of Sony's size would allow a piece of software to appear on any of its products without Sony having tested the hell out of it first.

        I think it's far more likely that Sony knew what this software did, and chose to distribute it anyway. This could have been a result of incompetent testers, poor communication between QA and management, overbearing management anxious to get a product out on a strict deadline, or any number of other things.

        • Re:My question: (Score:5, Funny)

          by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 31 2005, @06:59PM (#13919538)
          > It's beyond absurd that a company of Sony's size would allow a piece of software to appear on any of its products without Sony having tested the hell out of it first.

          You never played Star Wars Galaxies, did you?

      • Re:My question: (Score:5, Insightful)

        by utlemming (654269) on Monday October 31 2005, @06:39PM (#13919359) Homepage
        However, it might not protect them from a product liability suit. Simply put, if that had happened to me, I would have bought a new hard drive, reinstalled everything and then copied the data that I needed over, and then filed a product liability suit. I would claimed everything from illegal computer trespass, product liability, vandalism, and anything else that might have sounded half-way reasonable. The fact that a root-kit was installed on the computer to protect music shows that privacy now takes a second place seat to some one-else's property rights, when that person isn't even present. In this case one the music industry, if allowed to get away with it is violating privacy and property rights of another person in order to protect their property rights.

  • In democratic america... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 31 2005, @06:06PM (#13919071)
    corporations exploit YOU!

    hrm, so much for humor. I don't find it funny at all :/

    • Re:In democratic america... (Score:5, Insightful)

      by conJunk (779958) on Monday October 31 2005, @06:10PM (#13919126)
      damn... you know it's getting scary when the soviet russia joke is not only unfunny, but frightening....

      i don my tinfoil hat and robe...

    • corporations exploit YOU!

      Insightful indeed.

      The thing is that there is more than a corporation here. The artist that chose to sign with Sony is now going to feel the repercussions of this dirty little trick Sony tried to play. Do you think that Sony really cares if they loose a few sales of this one CD because they got caught red-handed? Of course not.

      These record labels are not only exploiting the consumer, but they are screwing over the artists that depend on them for advertising and distribution. Here is contact information [thevanzants.com] for Van Zant [thevanzants.com]. Let them know that you're pissed. Let them know you won't be buying their CD. Let them know that they were screwed by Sony. While you're at it, why not let First4Internet [first4internet.com] know that you hate them and hope they burn in Hell for writing malware like this. A few thousand emails will do wonders for these jerks.

      If enough artists move away from these corporate labels it can only mean good things for the consumers. It's not impossible for this to happen, just extremely difficult.

      • iTunes Australia and Japan (Score:5, Interesting)

        by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 31 2005, @07:47PM (#13919835)
        Sony still hasn't agreed to come on board with iTunes, which I find damn annoying. Everytime I search for an artist and don't find them (considering they're a big artist), I go and search for that artists publisher.. and what do ya know, always sony.

        I'm really starting to hate that company. This BS "DRM" is just the icing on the cake. Sure, iTunes has DRM, but it's quite benign (5 computers, unlimited ipods, unlimited burns per song, 7 burns per album).

        They're too big, and have their hands in too many pots. Time for Sony artists to take a stand and go with somebody else (quite difficult, considering the ass-raping contracts they probably had to sign). Essentially, Sony are denying their artists a source of income to satisfy the needs of their consumer electronics department. I'd be pissed.

  • as if (Score:5, Insightful)

    by scenestar (828656) on Monday October 31 2005, @06:06PM (#13919074) Homepage Journal
    DRM wasn't intrusive in the first place.

  • Anti-spyware Bill (Score:5, Insightful)

    by AKAImBatman (238306) * <akaimbatman.gmail@com> on Monday October 31 2005, @06:08PM (#13919094) Homepage Journal
    We *really* need to get a anti-spyware bill on the books. Something along the lines of, "It shall be a criminal offsense to install non-application software on any computer when the user has not been reasonably notified in advance and/or agreed to have the modifications made. This bill will be reevaluated for its effect in three years."

    Anything running in the background, rootkits, and other forms of spyware (which generally rely on the user not knowing they're there) would immediately become illegal.

    • Re:Anti-spyware Bill (Score:5, Insightful)

      by queenb**ch (446380) on Monday October 31 2005, @06:48PM (#13919434) Homepage Journal
      Problem #1 - Mr. Spyware Programmer in Nigeria where such things aren't illegal.

      Problem #2 - Mr. Identity Theif in wierd 3rd world country where such things are illegal but are tactitly condoned by local authority as long as its not someone from their country

      Problem #3 - Mr Corporate Lobbyist - RIAA & MPAA ring any bells????

      Problem #4 - Your privacy has been dead for decades. The sad part is that people are just now starting to smell the rotting corpse.

      Passing a bill here in the USA will only do what CAN-SPAM did - drive them off shore to less regulated places. What's really needed is the ability to establish peering points that co-incide with national borders. Then we can pass a law that says that if we don't like your data integrity laws, we don't pass traffic to/from you.

      See if that doesn't actually accomplish what you're looking for.

      2 cents,

      Queen B

    • ...could probably be used in this way, for this software. The program was unquestionably not authorized by the user, as it is not declared in the EULA. As there is no apparent (yet) "Phone Home" capability, it would not violate the Data Protection Act. It might violate tresspass/break-and-entry laws, as the only reason the hacker of Prince Philip's e-mail account escaped conviction was that a transient tool was not considered a lockpick. This is a permanent tool that permits repeated intrusion, so I would guess the courts would be more sympathetic to the argument that it was breaking and entering. IANAL, but most people in computing in Britain have covered the DPA and CMA to some degree, because these are things IT people need to be careful of. It is possible - though unlikely - that the EU could also prosecute Sony over this, as it may infringe on privacy and computer protection laws in Europe. It's very doubtful the EU would take such action - they barely took any action against Microsoft for anything it did - but if Sony or other companies agravate the situation enough, there ARE elections in Italy coming up and the ruling elite there could do with someone to victimize.


      America - well, there's no privacy in the US of A. The trade in personal information is open and widespread. There is an excellent chance that if anyone tried to prosecute Sony over privacy infringements that it would be laughed out of court. You can't protect what you don't have. Posession is 9/10ths of the law, and Americans posess very little - much as they often like to believe otherwise.


      Sony actually has a much stronger case. Reverse-engineering their DRM scheme is in direct violation of both the letter AND the spirit of the DMCA, which is explicitly intended to prohibit exactly this kind of research (ie: the study of the spyware) and this kind of result (ie: the removal of it, afterwards). Depending on who Sony licensed the rootkit from, there is a possibility it might also violate aspects of the PATRIOT act. (If the rootkit is also used by any law enforcement groups, then this study could compromise wiretapping provisions in the act.)

      • Re:Anti-spyware Bill (Score:5, Insightful)

        by AKAImBatman (238306) * <akaimbatman.gmail@com> on Monday October 31 2005, @06:18PM (#13919184) Homepage Journal
        shall we define "non-application software"?

        The bill would actually need a definition of "application software" so that anything that doesn't meet that definition would be automatically covered. e.g. "Application Software refers to a self-contained program that is installed on the consumer's computer. To be considered self-contained, it must not modify the operating system to execute any software at any time other than when the user runs the software in question."

        what constituteds "agreed to"?

        The courts do. Considering the difficulties they've been giving to the click-through licensers, I'm perfectly okay with that.

  • RootKits coming out in bundles? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by cwtrex (912286) on Monday October 31 2005, @06:08PM (#13919107) Journal
    I'm downloading RootkitRevealer now. I wonder how long it is going to take for Norton and McAfee to upgrade their Rootkit detection abilities? Next years anti-virus release? The last rootkit that Norton found on a computer at work was well spread and had been out for 6 months. It still was unable to remove/fix the infection. :(

  • Didn't Notice? (Score:5, Funny)

    by KidHash (766864) on Monday October 31 2005, @06:09PM (#13919111) Homepage
    Not that this makes it better in any way, but I liked how he said

    I hadn't noticed when I purchased the CD from Amazon.com that it's protected with DRM software, but if I had looked more closely at the text on the Amazon.com web page I would have known

    followed by a picture of the amazon web page in question with [CONTENT/COPY-PROTECTED CD] clearly visible in massive letters.

  • Is the EULA valid? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by nweaver (113078) on Monday October 31 2005, @06:09PM (#13919115) Homepage
    Since spyware WITH a proper EULA has been held to be in violation by the FTC, and since this EULA [sysinternals.com] doesn't really mention the rootkit's difficulty of removal, this might be litigatable.

    Of course, Mark Russinovich did (inadvertantly) dissasemble content protected by the EULA.

  • Sony has gone too far... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by chrispyman (710460) on Monday October 31 2005, @06:12PM (#13919140)
    It's one thing to copy protect your CDs to make it difficult to rip but it's another thing to install a rootkit that is by definition difficult to remove. Who'se going to clean up this mess when a Microsoft patch or SP comes around and breaks any computer with this installed?

  • Thanks (Score:5, Interesting)

    by BCW2 (168187) on Monday October 31 2005, @06:13PM (#13919144) Journal
    I am very glad to hear about this. That CD WAS on my birthday list for next week.

    Sony just lost a sale, end of story.

    • Re:Thanks (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Flower (31351) on Monday October 31 2005, @06:30PM (#13919279) Homepage
      Don't tell Sony. Tell the Brothers that they lost a sale. Let them know that the product they worked so hard on now has poorly written software on it that could damage your computer. And through you want their music you can't buy it and you're going to tell your friends not to risk buying this CD.

  • This has gone too far! (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Billly Gates (198444) on Monday October 31 2005, @06:18PM (#13919182) Homepage Journal
    What is next? Drm that will rewrite your bios and turn your pc into an expensive doorstop for copyright violation?

    As if spyware itself is miraculiously legal and now we have this? Rootkits and spyware programs that append to windows in the mbr so even a reinstall wont delete thim IS TOO FAR!

    I agree with a previous poster that is should be a criminal offense the same catagory as spypainting someones house or breaking an entry. Why do we allow this crap to be legal?

    Its time we wrote our elected officials and inform them about what is happening and about Sony's drm and demand civil and criminal responsibility for malware makers. I dont care if its the CEO of some company spraypainting my house vs a teenage kid. Its still illegal and Sony should be held accountable.

    I was reading on cnn about the drop of ecommerce even though there is still a rise in internet usage. This is due to all the spyware/scams/malware that is infecting pc's at record rates. This is killing out economy and many companies such as Google, Amazon, and Ebay are already getting hit with their wallets over these scams.

    Lets organize and make a difference. This is a slippery slope and I fear what is coming next.

    • Re:This has gone too far! (Score:5, Informative)

      by burnsy (563104) on Monday October 31 2005, @06:36PM (#13919330)
      "What is next? Drm that will rewrite your bios and turn your pc into an expensive doorstop for copyright violation?"

      Yes, look for it in your next Blu-Ray Disc Player.

      http://www.engadget.com/entry/1234000737057152/ [engadget.com]

      "On top of that, consumers should expect punishment for tinkering with their Blu-ray players, as many have done with current DVD players, for instance to remove regional coding. The new, Internet-connected and secure players will report any "hack" and the device can be disabled remotely."

    • Re:This has gone too far! (Score:5, Interesting)

      by mcrbids (148650) on Monday October 31 2005, @07:19PM (#13919664) Journal

      Lets organize and make a difference.

      OK, let's. I assume that this is a call to join a foundation, organization, or movement. What have you decided to call this organization? What's the mission statement? What are the goals of the organization? Meeting times? Rallies?

      Yep, I just might be interested. Really.

      If you're serious, that is - but I don't think you are. See, if you were, you'd have to stretch yourself outside of your current "comfort zone", which currently includes your computer, and quite possibly your mother's basement, but not much else.

      But, if you WERE serious, and you REALLY DID put out enough effort to register a domain name, make a website, put together some business cards, talk to REAL LIVE PEOPLE (instead of your laptop) at real, live events, you'd find out very quickly what real, live people think. You'd grow immensely, as a result. Your skills at working with people, and your earning power would be forever improved, and your understanding of your true role in society would be much, much firmer.

      You would forever be a bigger, better person.

      I dare you to put together an organization of at least 100 members towards your cause. In order to be a "member", they have to have contributed at least $10 in CASH towards your cause's war chest. (And, I know you can do it, because I did)

  • What if you refuse the EULA? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by BeBoxer (14448) on Monday October 31 2005, @06:28PM (#13919264)
    I know you can disable auto-run and such to get around this type of crap. But what happens if you just 'disagree' or whatever on the EULA? I assume that Sony will then not install the rootkit and you can rip the CD with whatever tool you normally use? Or does Sony install the rootkit anyway, setting themselves up for criminal prosecution? Does anybody have a copy of this thing to try and answer that question?

    It just seems kind of silly to have DRM which is totally dependant on the user to request it be installed. Or can refusing an EULA be considered a violation of the DMCA?

  • EULA's do not trump the law (Score:5, Informative)

    by LM741N (258038) on Monday October 31 2005, @06:30PM (#13919278)
    You can't enter into a contract which violates the law. Thus a "contract killing" is not a valid contract.

  • Here is what a kid had to say... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by cyclocommuter (762131) on Monday October 31 2005, @06:31PM (#13919287)
    ...after he tried to rip another Sony produced CD "Healthy in Paranoid Times" by the Our Lady Peace:

    Disappointing, to say the least..., October 14, 2005

    A Kid's Review (Amazon.com)

    I tried copying this CD, not knowing that it was protected. So, I ripped it to my hard-drive and burned it. But, when I inserted the burned copy into my computer, the screen froze for a while, and an installer icon appeared on the taskbar in the bottom right. It installed somthing - and now I cannot burn anything, with any program. I've even tried using a different, external CD burner. A disk error comes up during burning, even if I am not not burning audio CDs. This was not a fluke. I've talked to other people this has happened to. Avoid anything with "copy protection." Sony might as well burn viruses onto the CDs they distribute.

  • It's immoral to buy RIAA music (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Jason1729 (561790) on Monday October 31 2005, @06:33PM (#13919309)
    I used to buy a lot of CDs but stopped around the time of the napster lawsuit. I would probably still be buying 2-3 discs/month if I didn't consider it immoral to buy CDs.

  • Awesome (Score:5, Insightful)

    by suwain_2 (260792) on Monday October 31 2005, @06:34PM (#13919315) Journal
    On this CD's product page [amazon.com], there are several negative reviews on account of spyware. My favorite puts into plain English why this is bad: "I am very unhappy, since I now listen to all of my music using my IPod."

    I think this is the way to fight DRM. When we complain about DRM rights, we're fighting a crusade on principle, and few people really get what's wrong. When you say, "This CD that I paid for can't be transferred to my iPod," people will see that it's outrageous. When people see that it's installing spyware on your computer, they'll flip. Cheers to whoever's left this feedback.

  • *phew* (Score:5, Funny)

    by Alan (347) <arcterex AT ufies DOT org> on Monday October 31 2005, @06:39PM (#13919356) Homepage
    I'm glad I get my music off of p2p networks and don't have to worry about trojans and rootkits and that evil hacker stuff!

  • Incentivising Piracy (Score:5, Insightful)

    by SpecBear (769433) on Monday October 31 2005, @07:05PM (#13919580)
    My refrain to the copyright holders: The people being hurt by this DRM software are people who have already communicated their intent to do the right thing by purchasing the CD. Sony has just guaranteed that a lot of people will never make that mistake again.

    Welcome to a Brave New World: People who pay for their music get viruses, while people who download it at no cost from illegal sources get clean MP3s that they can freely copy and use on whatever devices they own.

  • the big guys take punches like candy... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by DigitalEntropy (146564) on Monday October 31 2005, @07:49PM (#13919851)
    ... the little guys are more likely to crumble. Why not target the source of this crap? I did. Though, admittedly I'm sure SONY keeps their wallets fat enough to ignore us. See below:

    ===

    Mail-To: info@xcp-aurora.com, info@first4internet.co.uk

    Subject: attn: Mathew, Tony, Peter, Nick; re: Extreme displeasure with your XCP product.

    To Whom it may concern:

    I would like to address the outstanding issue regarding the software your company licensed to SONY BMG here in the United States. This software proposes to be a harmless DRM solution for the corporate customer as a method of protection against malicious users. However, what your software critically FAILS at is conscientiously protecting the end user against exploits of your poorly, shit-house written utilities.
    Personally, I'm glad that your nasty parlour tricks were recently exposed by SysInternals.com (http://www.sysinternals.com/blog/2005/10/sony-roo tkits-and-digital-rights.html [sysinternals.com]) for the disreputable practices they are, and for identifying "First 4 Internet" (sounds like a shoddy store-front operation for a bunch of Black Hat rejects) as the company directly responsible for the most vile intrusion my system has ever received. And the fact that your ill-conceived product leaves my system open to additional intrusions of this nature is unforgivable.
    May whatever sink-hole from whence you rose quickly swallow you back. You have no right to voilate my computer's integrity. You have no right to scan the contents of my computer. You may have the right to hide in the darkness of Windows' subsystem like cowards, but that does not mean you won't be seen. You have no right to abuse the trust garnered by SONY from the citizens it regularly calls customers (or, perhaps more appropriately, "guinea pigs"). I hope the light of truth sends you roaches scurrying.

    With the wretched taste of bile at the back of my throat,

    [my name]
    [my email addy]

    ===

    Personally, I purchased "The Dead 60s" latest album, and sure enough it had the exact same copy-protection crap as described on sysinternals.com. That article sure shed some light on the behavioral difference in my system since I got that CD (significantly slower start up and execution times on a 1.2 GHz, and constant 5 - 10% CPU usage with almost nothing running). Fuck them. Fuck them right in the ear.

    It was stated before, and I'll reinforce it: This kind of DRM ADVOCATES piracy. You are safer without DRM. I intend to zap my Windows machine and go to Debian (as I've been considering, but now have good reason for security purposes), and return this CD by mail to SONY BMG in a thousand tiny pieces, but not before I copy it and distribute out of sheer spite.

    • Re:What is it exactly? (Score:5, Informative)

      by RingDev (879105) on Monday October 31 2005, @06:21PM (#13919206) Homepage Journal
      Being a root kit just means that the program works at the OS level, USUALLY in such a way that the end user will not notice it, nor will virus detectors flag it. It changes something about "Windows" as opposed to adding something to it. (over simplified)

      The arbitrary code in this case is installed when you hit 'OK'.

      -Rick

    • Re:What is it exactly? (Score:5, Informative)

      by abscondment (672321) on Monday October 31 2005, @06:23PM (#13919218) Homepage

      You're confusing the terms "rootkit" and "trojan"/"backdoor".

      A trojan in its strictest sense tricks a user into executing one set of code when they think they're executing another. A backdoor simply allows remote execution of arbitrary code.

      A rootkit is usually the set of tools that an attacker deploys on a compromised system. "rootkits" in the terms of this article are programs that trick your kernel into doing things it shouldn't do. This could include a trojan or a backdoor, but not necessarily.

      Sony's program is a rootkit because it runs without authorization from the CD and alters the Windows API in order to disguise itself. As far as the article indicates, it doesn't include the ability for Sony to execute code on your machine. It's still dirty and sinister, if you ask me. It also allows any other malicious attackers to conceal anything they plant on your machine - simply by prefixing any file name with $sys$ - that's not cool!

      • Re:What is it exactly? (Score:5, Informative)

        by sakusha (441986) on Monday October 31 2005, @06:41PM (#13919371)
        You obviously didn't read the article very closely. Sony patched the CD/DVD drivers, Sony's code runs every time you access the drive. He didn't disassemble the entire driver so there is no clear indication that it doesn't contain security problems (whether by incompetence like a buffer overflow, or a deliberate backdoor) that would allow arbitrary code to run. There is no way to audit the code for security, it is probably illegal under the DMCA to disassemble and fully analyze DRM code in sufficient detail for a full code audit
        THAT is the biggest problem with these windoze DRM hacks. You can secure your system with all the technology at your disposal, but it means nothing when you are tricked into running a rootkit disguised as DRM. Then you have to trust the DRM vendor did not make any mistakes that expose you to further security risks.

        People like to gripe about Apple's DRM, but at least they know better than to pull crap like this.

      • Re:OS's fault (Score:5, Informative)

        by speeDDemon (nw) (643987) on Monday October 31 2005, @06:28PM (#13919262) Homepage

        Trusted Computing...

        I think this lil video on Trusted Computing [lafkon.net] is perfect at explaining trusted computing.

        I leave it running on the computers on display in my store. Hopeing that I can educate enough people in my small section of the world about the follies they are about to embark on.

    • Re:Wouldn't happen if you dont run MainstreamOS. (Score:5, Interesting)

      by spaceyhackerlady (462530) on Monday October 31 2005, @07:30PM (#13919736)
      Want to stop this nonsense from happening in the future? Actually run a non-mainstream OS. That shouldn't be hard for most of the visitors of this website, shouldn't it?

      Indeed. I've actually been a little disappointed with the DRM on CDs. When I put them in my Linux boxes they just play. I can rip to MP3 until the cows come home. No problem.

      I actually wanted one to fail so I could see how it was failing and maybe do something about it. Contribute something to the community, ya know.

      ...laura, not a U.S. resident, not covered by the DMCA

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