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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