Heads up: Sony/BMG CDs install Windows rootkits (no, really)

[solarbird]

Sony/BMG is now shipping audio CDs with digital rights management software that modifies your Windows kernel, runs all the time, doesn't announce it's installing itself, provides no uninstall mechanism, and disables your CD-ROM if you manage to find it and yank its files and registry entries. Keen!

Full description here.

ETA: That link isn't working right now. I don't know why. Currently, it's the first entry at this blog: http://www.sysinternals.com/Blog/ - it's the Monday, October 31 entry.

I hope someone will sue these assholes into the ground. And if you haven't disabled autorun on your CD-ROM drive in Windows, do it right now.

Today's miles: 0.9
Miles out of Hobbiton: 503.1
Miles out of Rivendell: 43.3
Miles to Lothlórien: 423.1

Meanwhile, have a flower picture. Something about this one just makes me think Sound of Music, tho' I can't possibly tell you why. I've never even seen the movie! I took it near Murkworks North, tho' I can't remember exactly where - probably on the walk to the shops or to the bus stop.


Alpine White

Comments

[firni.livejournal.com]

Oh goody, another reason for me to loathe Sony!

p.s.

[firni.livejournal.com]

I should post a comment on there along the lines of "that's what you get for buying a CD put out by a shitty band"... but I won't.

kekeke

[partywhipple.livejournal.com]

Your link doesn't work. ANd I am livid already without reading the article so perhaps that's for the best.

[solarbird]

That's... strange... the permalink on their own home page is broken too. Strange.

It's currently the top entry on http://www.sysinternals.com/ - so try that if you want.

[partywhipple.livejournal.com]

Ah I found it. Yeesh. It's a bit beyond my ken. I am never buying a CD with copy protection.

[firni.livejournal.com]

The link works for me. *shrug*

[aerialscribe.livejournal.com]

Okay I tried to read that article.
Now will you explain it to me in...English please?
What are the real consequences of this?

[solarbird]

They install software on your hard drive that masquerades as a device driver that controls what you can do with your CDs. They don't tell you. It installs at the operating system kernel level, so it has complete control over your machine. It hides itself so that you can't find it. They don't give you a way of taking it back off even if you do find it. If you do manage to find the files (which aren't just hidden in the normal way, but are made super-invisible via kernel hacks so even normal applications can't find them) and delete them, it breaks your CD-ROM drivers so you can't use your CD-ROM.

It's also broken in such a way that if anything else tries to patch the kernel in the way that a device-driver might in order to affect how a CD-ROM works, it'll break the operating system. It's also installed as a safe-mode application so that it even runs in safe mode, meaning that if it ever gets screwed up badly enough that your computer doesn't boot, you can't use safe mode to try to fix it.

How's that for a start?

[aerialscribe.livejournal.com]

Oh, and also, how does disabling autorun help, and how do I do that -- I will go try and figure that out myself, but...you may well be able to point me to it much more quickly. (I might in fact, already have it disabled, but I need to verify.)

[solarbird]

Googling for

disable autorun "windows xp"

returns step-by-step instructions on the first hit.

http://features.engadget.com/entry/3239236478279892/

[aerialscribe.livejournal.com]

That is really awful.
Is there any explanation for why they are doing this?
I don't get how destroying someone's computer can possibly = protecting digital rights.

Disabling Autorun on CD Drive

[arthur-denger.livejournal.com]

Can you recommend a link which might explain how to accomplish this? I've been unsuccessful so far. I'm running Windows XP.

Re: Disabling Autorun on CD Drive

[solarbird]

Googling for

disable autorun "windows xp"

returns step-by-step instructions on the first hit.

http://features.engadget.com/entry/3239236478279892/