Sony DRM Update

November 12, 2005, 4:11 PM | 0 Comments

What a difference a week can make! Exactly one week ago I posted my frustrations regarding Sony’s Digital Rights Mis-Management. Over the last 7 days there has been a few major developments in this story. It seems that I wasn’t the only person who was frustrated by the way Sony is going about their content protection.

If you check with the original entry, you’ll see that I’ve posted some updates at the end. If you don’t want to check back for the updates, here they are:

“There is a Follow-up entry over at Sysinternals about the uninstall process of Sony’s DRM software. Also, someone has filed a class action suit against Sony, just as I thought someone would.”

To add to the mess, the first round of viruses that take advantage of Sony’s DRM file cloaking/hiding have started to appear.

In response to all the backlash, Sony has stopped manufacturing the CDs that include their DRM software. A statement from Sony reads like this:

We are aware that a computer virus is circulating that may affect computers with XCP content protection software. The XCP software is included on a limited number of SONY BMG content protected titles. This potential problem has no effect on the use of these discs in conventional, non-computer-based, CD and DVD players.

In response to these events, SONY BMG has swiftly provided a patch to all major anti-virus companies and to the general public that guards against precisely the type of virus now said to exist. The patch fixes the possible software problem, and still allows CDs to be played on personal computers. It can be downloaded at http://cp.sonybmg.com/xcp/. Starting today, we will also be adding this link to the SONY BMG label and corporate sites. We deeply regret any possible inconvenience this may cause.

We stand by content protection technology as an important tool to protect our intellectual property rights and those of our artists. Nonetheless, as a precautionary measure, SONY BMG is temporarily suspending the manufacture of CDs containing XCP technology. We also intend to re-examine all aspects of our content protection initiative to be sure that it continues to meet our goals of security and ease of consumer use. More information about our content protection initiative can also be found at: http://cp.sonybmg.com/xcp.

Posted in: Apple, Life, Technology