1st lawsuite against Sony

We all knew knew it was going to come, we were only waiting to see who would be first.
Well, much to my surprise, it was Italian group ALCEI.

Link

I am waiting with baited breath to see how this goes.
I think that we will now see a series lawsuites coming from amny souces-all well deservied-imo

Mod edit: link



[edit on 7-11-2005 by sanctum]

Bump

There is now new news on the Sony virial infection front.

It seems now that the rootkit Sony hs been placing on peoples computers without users knowledge or permission, may be reporting back to Sony.

"Sony denies that it does. Theoretically it looks for an update to the CD, without your permission or consent"

So they install softwear without your knowledge or permission that monitors your computer then it contacts Sony without your knowledge or permission.
Sure sounds like a virus/trojan to me.

link:
www.theinquirer.net...

[edit on 11/7/2005 by mrmonsoon]

*edited by monsoon as not up to ATS high standards of posting.

[edit on 11/7/2005 by mrmonsoon]

The reason this is a conspiracy is Sony is putting software on peoples computers-without notice or permission. The said software is hidden from all users-by using hackers rootkit technology to keep it hidden. If it is found, removing it-if u can, may destroy your optical drive.

Now we find out that this software may be phoning home to Sony telling it-who knows what
Maybe your personal info?
Is Sony trying to break your privacy or is it creating it's own bot army-hacker style?

this is shocking! wow, Sony, of all corporations.

Whoda thunkit?

is this like, sony games if you install them on your computer?

Originally posted by Kitsunegari

this is shocking! wow, Sony, of all corporations.

Whoda thunkit?

is this like, sony games if you install them on your computer?

Right now, they have only been "caught" putting this on music cd's.
You bring up a very good point-is Sony doing this on movie dvd'd as well as games.
I will continue to investigate this and see if I can come up with any more information
BTW-Sony admits it has been doing this since april 04.

Hey, I haven't been following the news. I've got a two yr. old and a one yr. old and the TVs always on the Disney Channel. So, what exactly is the lawsuit for? And what's going on with the CD's? My mom just bought a Sony Laptop and I wanted to let her know what's going on.

yikes, ok. now i have to check and see if theres any sony stuff on this computer.

thanks for puttin this in a thread mon!

"WTF" I have always not trusted My government but I had hoped that for the sake of profit large corps would be some what trust worthy. It would seem there are no morals left in government or corporate world.

Its times like this that I love linux.

As they say "Trust no one", even the multi-billion profit earning monster corporations like Sony.

In fact after reading this a couple days ago I said to myself "do not buy anymore sony products".

Anyhows at least Sony have finally started to get whats comming.

Nice find

~Peace ~

Originally posted by otterbaby
Hey, I haven't been following the news. I've got a two yr. old and a one yr. old and the TVs always on the Disney Channel. So, what exactly is the lawsuit for? And what's going on with the CD's? My mom just bought a Sony Laptop and I wanted to let her know what's going on.

In brief, here is the current news.

1) it was discovered that Sony music cd's contain a type of program called "rootkit". It is a type of software that incorporates so tightly with the operating system of your computer as to render it undetectable by anti-spy anti virus scanners.

2) It was discovered that the music cd'd were putting this software on users computers without the users being told-on packaging or in any agreement. By it's very nature, it is almost impossible to know this happened by most users.

3) it was discovered that the program-using your systems resources, monitors all executable programs on your computer. Executable programs are programs you run buy double clicking on them.

4) It was discovered that this software is communicating with Sony, without users knowledge or permission, telling them who knows what.

5)Sony claims that this is done to look for updates-but to a music cd?

Dictionary.com defines a Trojan Horse virus as: a program that appears desirable but actually contains something harmful; "the contents of a Trojan can be a virus or a worm

6) Trojan Horse virus's are know to install themselves on a computer without users permission. It is then that they open a "back door to the computer" They then communicate with the writer of the program who can now take control of your computer and make it a member of a bot army for attacking websites in "denial of service attacks" It can also be used to obtain any interesting information from your computer like credit card and other personal info.

7)If you feel that what Sony has done is wrong, I encourage you to let Sony of America know with emails and phone calls.

8)Sony of America only admitted to what there were doing-since April of 04-after they were caught and the word went out on the Internet as to what they were doing.

Everyone, please be clear, the only action I want you to do is learn more form any and all sources possible. Any choices you would make from all the information-like not buying Sony cd's- is your own choice.

Here you go-the first official Trojan Horse virus to take advantage of the trojan horse (rootkit) put on unsuspecting peoples computers.
This did not take long.

"BRITISH FIRM Sophos said that a Trojan which exploits Sony's DRM copy protection is in the wild."

Here is the full link 4 u:

theinquirer.net...

Ok,

As I suspected-more lawsuites on the way against Sony.:

"Two separate class actions have started in the USA."

"The EFF( Electronic Frontier Foundation) in the US confirmed our earlier story that a number of titles are infected by the rootkit."

Here is a link for more details and further links at bottom of article:

theinquirer.net...

Here is a partial list of infected music cd's:

Trey Anastasio, Shine (Columbia)
Celine Dion, On ne Change Pas (Epic)
Neil Diamond, 12 Songs (Columbia)
Our Lady Peace, Healthy in Paranoid Times (Columbia)
Chris Botti, To Love Again (Columbia)
Van Zant, Get Right with the Man (Columbia)
Switchfoot, Nothing is Sound (Columbia)
The Coral, The Invisible Invasion (Columbia)
Acceptance, Phantoms (Columbia)
Susie Suh, Susie Suh (Epic)
Amerie, Touch (Columbia)
Life of Agony, Broken Valley (Epic)
Horace Silver Quintet, Silver's Blue (Epic Legacy)
Gerry Mulligan, Jeru (Columbia Legacy)
Dexter Gordon, Manhattan Symphonie (Columbia Legacy)
The Bad Plus, Suspicious Activity (Columbia)
The Dead 60s, The Dead 60s (Epic)
Dion, The Essential Dion (Columbia Legacy)
Natasha Bedingfield, Unwritten (Epic)
Ricky Martin, Life (Columbia)

Here are some tips as to Sony infected music cd's:

This is not a complete list. So how do you recognize other XCP-laden CDs in the wild?

Tip-off #1: on the front of the CD, at the left-most edge, in the transparent "spine", you'll see "CONTENT PROTECTED" along with the IFPI copy-protection logo. A few photos make this clearer.

XCP Spine Label

Tip-off #2: on the back of the CD, on the bottom or right side, there will be a "Compatible with" disclosure box. Along with compatibility information, the box also includes a URL where you can get help. The URL has a telltale admission buried in it: cp.sonybmg.com/xcp. That lets you know that XCP is on this disc (discs protected with SunnComm have a different URL that includes "sunncomm").

XCP Label

If you haven't been infected yet, to protect yourself from XCP in the future, disable "autorun" on your Windows PC. Once you have done so, however, these CDs may not be accessible under Windows unless you have specialized ripping software installed; these CDs are encoded in a way that intentionally confuses standard Windows CD drivers. For a smarter audio grabber for Windows, you may want to consider using Exact Audio Copy, which reportedly can read these CDs if you have turned off autorun and avoided infection by XCP.

Furthermore, it seems that Sony's "patch" cure can cause more problems yet:

"But, there’s more to the story, like how Sony’s patch can lead to a crashed system and data loss and how Sony is still making users jump through hoops to get an uninstaller."

Here's a link:

www.sysinternals.com...

Sorry for such a long post, but there is still so much information to get to u

*Post edited by mrmonsoon to add a linkto the article that quotes were taken from

[edit on 11/10/2005 by mrmonsoon]

nicely done mon! you get my WATS vote for this thread.


thanks for keepin us informed, SONY'll get whats comin to them.

--Kit.

Ok,

Mac users were feeling "leftout" by Sony/BMG's installing drm softwear on their computers.
Well, fell leftout no more.
Yep, that's right, it seems even Mac's are being hit with softwear from Sony/BMG.

Linky:

www.macintouch.com...

Whereas it is not the same "rootkit" virus, it is a bad sign-imo-of Mac's soon to be hit with the same rootkit virus from Sony/BMG.

"I was surprised to find a "Start.app" Mac application in addition to the expected Windows-related files."

The issue is further taken up here-sorry it is in German.
Linky:

www.heise.de...

And yet still more information on the Sony Virus infection issue.

It now seems that I have discoved how they are doing it.
You see, to play the music on the Sony/BMG music cd, you must install their preopriitory music player.
When you install it, this is when you are hit with the rootkit virus.

*Note, the patch made available by Sony/BMG only makes the virus visiable-it does not remove it. The way it makes the files and reg files invisiable to end users is by using $sys$ before the entries-making them "hidden files"

You can email requests to get help to remove the virus, HOWEVER, in agreeing to there help, you also agree to allow Sony and their partner to contact you for marketing purposes-READ AS SPAM. Whether it is spam in the form of email, ohone calls or what ever-it is just wrong-IMO.


"First 4 Internet has made a program available that removes the rootkit functionality for hiding the program, but does not remove the player or DRM protection. Sony does not provide an uninstall program, but does provide a web-based form through which you can ask for help uninstalling the program. Sony says that they will e-mail instructions for uninstalling if you fill out the form, but the privacy policy linked to on the form also says that filling it out will allow Sony and their partners to contact you for marketing purposes."

Latest news-a second Trojan Horse Virus that used thye Sony/BGM "rootkit" has been detected out in the wild.
It is discussed at the symantic website (norton antivius).

Here is a link to current information:

securityresponse.symantec.com...

wow, geez.

ok, now starts my boycott of sony products

thanks again mon.

--Kit.

The easiest way to tell if you're effected by this or not is just to make a file a blank text file would do fine and rename it putting $sys$ at the front of the filename.

If the file vanishes from view you're a victim if not you're safe.

I'd personally wait until a reliable 3rd party makes a remover as the sony one sounds like it does more harm than good.

I can assure you there is One fale safe meathed for removing all traces of this Vires .
almost all pcs with windows built in the last four years have a mirro built into them .
or in other words with a quick reboot and hitting the f 10 key or f 12 your just a few clicks away from factory restoring your pc .
Wile this may be inconvient because you now must reinstall all programs that dident come standered . As long as you make a cd of all files you wish to keep even a novice can get his pc back to normal in under 3 hours .
Me personly I fix pcs and can have everthing up and running in under an hour no matter how badly messed up or how manny programs need be reinstalled .
So If you are infected rember this post.
PS I have had to do this more then once and when nothing else works this aloways has .
pss thankfully in the last year I have gotton very good a securty and finly understand all systems to do 90% of problems manuly thus ruducing the need to reformat.

[edit on 11-11-2005 by Simcity4Rushour]