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Sony rootkit settlement costs escalate

Use of hidden DRM software costs company $5.75m.

Sony BMG Music Entertainment's ill-advised use of hidden digital rights management (DRM) software on its CDs in late 2005 has cost the company $5.75 million in settlement fees.

Last month Sony agreed to pay a combined total of $1.5 million to settle lawsuits filed by the states of California and Texas over its use of hidden DRM software on CDs. Two days later, the company agreed to pay settlement fees to a further 40 states to end the investigations into its use of the copy protection programs.

In late 2005, Mark Russinovich of Sysinternals (now Microsoft) was first to pick up on the security risks concerning the copy protection software, revealing that the software was using rootkit cloaking techniques (see VB, December 2005, p.11). According to the Massachusetts Attorney General, more than 12 million CDs shipped containing the software.

Residents of each of the US states that have settled with Sony are entitled to up to $175 in refunds for damages that may have been caused to their computers while attempting to uninstall the software. Sony has set up a website (http://www.sonybmgcdtechsettlement.com/) with information for consumers on the matter.

03 January 2007

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