Rootkits All Around: Universal Music Has It Too

(Mis)Uses of Technology

from the no-surprise-there dept

I doubt this is surprising to anyone. But, following all the talk about Sony’s rootkit-style copy protection found on some music CDs, people are looking to see who else the copy protection company works with. Riley turned up a press release, showing that the company is also outfitting certain Universal Music Group CDs with their special brand of malware copy protection — even highlighting in the announcement that it’s the same as found on SonyBMG CDs. Of course, given Universal Music’s CEO Edgar Bronfman’s history of believing he must control everything, it’s no surprise at all that they’d be using this too. Given the lawsuits against adware firms for sneaky installs (and, recognizing that this rootkit stuff is actually much more dangerous by opening up additional holes in your computer), doesn’t it seem like these record companies have just opened themselves up to a serious legal liability? They installed something on computers without asking or alerting you. They make it very, very, very difficult to remove. They break certain features of your computer and they open up a major security vulnerability that others can exploit. And then they call all their customers criminals. Can’t imagine why they’re having trouble with their existing business model.