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Grex > Oldmusic > #202: The Twenty-Second "Napsterization" Item | |
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krj
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The Twenty-Second "Napsterization" Item
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Nov 1 17:14 UTC 2005 |
The usual canned introduction:
The original Napster corporation has been destroyed, its trademarks
now owned by an authorized music retailer which does not use peer-to-peer
technology. But the Napster paradigm, in which computers and networks
give ordinary people unprecedented control over content, continues.
This is another quarterly installment in a series of weblog and
discussion about the deconstruction of the music industry and other
copyright industries, with side forays into "intellectual property,
freedom of expression, electronic media, corporate control, and evolving
technology," as polygon once phrased it.
Several years of back items are easily found in the music2 and music3
conferences, covering discussions all the way back to the initial
popularity of the MP3 format. These items are linked between
the current Agora conference and the Music conference.
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| 53 responses total. |
krj
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response 1 of 53:
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Nov 1 17:19 UTC 2005 |
Sony/BMG CDs can now come with a copy protection system which, when
used in a Windows PC, installs a rootkit, hidden software which
requires a high degree of skill to find and remove. Wheeee!
http://www.sysinternals.com/blog/2005/10/sony-rootkits-and-digital-rights.h
tml
http://www.f-secure.com/weblog/#00000691
(For the non-obsessive, Sony/BMG is the joint music operation of
Sony and Bertelsmann, one of the four surviving Big Music corporations.)
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keesan
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response 2 of 53:
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Nov 1 17:26 UTC 2005 |
How does linux react to Sony CDs? I had to use a version of readcd later than
1999 to bypass copy protection.
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tod
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response 3 of 53:
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Nov 1 17:28 UTC 2005 |
What are the implications of this malware to employers that allow their
workers to listen to Sony CD's on the desktop?
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mcnally
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response 4 of 53:
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Nov 1 17:54 UTC 2005 |
It is probably no longer advisable to allow employees to put their own
CDs in their work computers.
(Arguably it hasn't been advisable ever since Microsoft added the idea
of "autorun" CDs to their OS years ago..)
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tod
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response 5 of 53:
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Nov 1 18:01 UTC 2005 |
The first question I always ask: Does your organization give the enduser
"Administrator" or "Power User" level at the desktop.
We're in the process of rolling out Altiris but the learning curve is pretty
strained for these guys..they're struggling just with the symantec scanning
logs being retained from the local boxes. That means: We need to devise a
laptop scanning policy that ensures at least a weekly scan without user
interference and also ensures we have it logged somewhere(think SOX).
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albaugh
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response 6 of 53:
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Nov 1 18:49 UTC 2005 |
Many new PCs in the workplace have neither a floppy disk drive nor a CD drive.
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tod
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response 7 of 53:
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Nov 1 19:15 UTC 2005 |
But plenty o USB minicruzer ready ports...
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remmers
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response 8 of 53:
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Nov 1 19:17 UTC 2005 |
Re #1: Yes, I read that article. In the comments, the issue was raised
whether this practice by Sony is even legal, given laws against
surreptitious installation of malware/spyware by third parties. Is a
class action suit against Sony looming on the horizon?
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tod
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response 9 of 53:
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Nov 1 19:28 UTC 2005 |
Sherman Networks Part 2...
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khamsun
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response 10 of 53:
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Nov 1 19:53 UTC 2005 |
"surreptitious installation of malware/spyware by third parties"
because when it's by first parties, nobody cares.It's legal.
Microsoft Vista, where do you want to get eavesdropped today?
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other
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response 11 of 53:
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Nov 2 12:18 UTC 2005 |
8: Can't be far off, I imagine. The real question is whether the
courts will validate such a suit before Sony buys enough
Congresscritters to make it explicitly legal for Sony to do what's
illegal if anyone else does it.
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bdh1
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response 12 of 53:
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Nov 3 07:35 UTC 2005 |
The current Sony DRM scam crashes M$ Vista dead in its tracks. Oops.
Thank Bill its only
a Beta...
Some wire stories indicate Sony is releasing a "patch" (for an M$ OS?)
that fixes the problem
they created. HIFNFT.
Rumors of code in the wild to exploit the pre-deployed rootkit.
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naftee
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response 13 of 53:
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Nov 3 23:11 UTC 2005 |
unlucky
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remmers
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response 14 of 53:
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Nov 8 16:28 UTC 2005 |
It appears that Sony is being sued over the rootkit thing.
http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=27508
Also, Grokster has officially shut down. An interesting take on this
appears in the TechDirt blog:
http://techdirt.com/articles/20051107/1154257_F.shtml
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twenex
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response 15 of 53:
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Nov 8 16:41 UTC 2005 |
Re: #14, 1st para. Oh, Good.
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albaugh
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response 16 of 53:
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Nov 8 20:11 UTC 2005 |
You just have to wonder what went through the minds of the "leadership" at
Sony that knowingly proceeded with this approach. Undoubtedly somewhere
behind it were legal advisers whose throats desperately need to be cut.
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mcnally
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response 17 of 53:
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Nov 8 20:26 UTC 2005 |
I'd wager that the leaders who make these decitions have little to
no clue about the technology involved -- someone at a DRM startup
company pitches them a solution that they say will keep the kids
from ripping all that juicy product and the suits at the top say
"That's great! It's just what we're looking for to ummm, 'enhance'
the customer experience."
In support of my assumption, I offer this line of reasoning --
if the executives in charge of this sort of thing *did* have any
sort of clue about audio and computer technology, why would they
keep going for these half-assed measures time and time again?
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tod
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response 18 of 53:
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Nov 8 20:29 UTC 2005 |
re #17
if the executives in charge of this sort of thing *did* have any
sort of clue about audio and computer technology, why would they
keep going for these half-assed measures time and time again?
Picture the scene in Austin Powers where Dr.Evil says "I will hold the world
ransom for....1 million dollars..muhahahaha.."
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albaugh
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response 19 of 53:
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Nov 8 20:38 UTC 2005 |
I have no proof but I speculate that some lawyer time advised management that
if they weasle worded their EULA a certain way they could claim that by the
letter of the law they weren't doing anything wrong. Can't Sony management
comprehend that this approach can't be worth it in comparison to the ill will
for the company when the "scandal" finally came out (which they surely must
/ should have know that it would).
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tod
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response 20 of 53:
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Nov 8 20:47 UTC 2005 |
Sherman Networks
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mcnally
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response 21 of 53:
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Nov 8 20:50 UTC 2005 |
Is that as in "Sherman Antitrust Act", or a misspelling of "Sharman"?
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tod
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response 22 of 53:
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Nov 8 21:10 UTC 2005 |
Sharman mispelled
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albaugh
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response 23 of 53:
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Nov 9 18:30 UTC 2005 |
don't squeeze it
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mcnally
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response 24 of 53:
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Nov 9 19:22 UTC 2005 |
Don't try to tell me what to do, Whipple..
:-p
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