Music Industry Backlash Against Sony Rootkit 400
Foobar of Borg writes "The Associated Press describes how backlash from Sony's Rootkit CDs is causing problems for the music industry. The problem is two-fold: (1) the inherent technological problem of trying to prevent anyone from copying anything and (2) letting lawyers make technical decisions when (from the article) 'Lawyers don't have any better understanding of technology than a cow does algebra.'" More from the article: "'I think they've set back audio CD protection by years,' said Richard M. Smith, an Internet privacy and security consultant. 'Nobody will want to pull a Sony now.' Phil Leigh, analyst for Inside Digital Media, said the debacle shows just how reluctant the labels are to change their business model to reflect the distribution powers -- good and bad -- of the Internet. He believes that rather than adopting technological methods to try to stop unauthorized copying of music, record companies need to do more to remove the incentive for piracy."
Wait a minute (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Wait a minute (Score:5, Interesting)
What I want to know is how two small time startups like First4Internet and SunnComm steal all the publicity from Macrovision.
Where is the analysis of CDS-300? Macrovision is the 800lb gorilla in this business, but nobody cares about them.
Re:Wait a minute (Score:5, Insightful)
Uniquely Slashdot Humor (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Wait a minute (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Wait a minute (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Wait a minute (Score:5, Insightful)
Trolls are people who are excessive negative in there posts, often try to personally attack others, or come up with the standard insults, (examples all Apple Users are Gay, or All Linux users are geeky little boys with no lives.) Sometime a troll can be sarcastic, but they should be paid attention differently.
Flamebait are posts that are meant to get people angry and talks about things that a number of people feel strongly about. (examples VI vs Emacs, OS X vs. Linux, Apples 1 button mouse, Politics, Abortion, Religious views) these are arguments that neither side will gain any more insight then they did before. Thus a normal waist of bandwidth and file space.
Redundant these are posts that that say the same thing as other posts and bring no new light onto the table.
Offtopic this is how this post should be moderated it is where the topic of conservation has targeted to much off the original topic. Or the post has nothing to do with the topic.
Over Rated these are posts that seem to moderated to high for their content. Often used to give an other message(s) more priority over the others. So the quick one liner the got first post that had a +5 funny and wasn't really that funny can be modded to a +4 funny and have all the insightful comments underneath it be read first.
Under Rated these are post you want to mod up but really don't know what topic it really fits in, or you want to keep the original moderation but you want it to have a higer score. Ex. if you see a Troll but you really like it and want everyone to see it you give it underrated and if more moderators do the same that is how you can have a Troll +5.
Funny this is where sarcasm goes, normally it is an attempt at humor.
Informative when good and correct information is given. Usually helps fill the missing gap in a story or comment.
Interesting when the user says sorting that causes interest in the posts, normally if you see a posts with a lot of replies to it then it should be considered interesting.
Insightful when more then average thought was put into the post which gives a Point of View not given by others or the Article.
I do not think it means what you think it means (Score:4)
Re:I do not think it means what you think it means (Score:3, Informative)
Sarcasm \Sar"casm\, n. [F. sarcasme, L. sarcasmus, Gr.
sarkasmo`s, from sarka`zein to tear flesh like dogs, to bite
the lips in rage, to speak bitterly, to sneer, fr. sa`rx,
sa`rkos, flesh.]
A keen, reproachful expression; a satirical remark uttered
with some degree of scorn or contempt; a taunt; a gibe; a
cutting jest.
[1913 Webster]
Remove incentive? (Score:5, Funny)
Like say, making shit music that no-one would want to pirate? Ugh, too late
Re:Remove incentive? (Score:5, Insightful)
Remove incentive for piracy by providing digital version of music?
I wonder if it'll be a DRMed WMV.
Re:Remove incentive? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Remove incentive? (Score:2, Insightful)
There's a message here somewhere isn't there... lets see, the XCP system hasn't kept a single album off the internet, it's infected 2 million PCs with malware and they've p*ssed all the revenue from 50 artists up the wall.
Re:Remove incentive? (Score:3, Insightful)
For instance, Sony, while on the one hand decrying copying of its CDs to mag tape spent several years selling Walkmen for the express purpose of playing music thus copied, not to mention supplying the blank media to do so.
They also need to stop sending mixed messages to our legislators, who, needless to say, roll over to corporate demands at the drop of a hat. Here in Australia, for i
Re:Remove incentive? (Score:5, Insightful)
hmm anti-lawyer FUD (Score:5, Interesting)
Is that right? [lessig.org]
Re:hmm anti-lawyer FUD (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:hmm anti-lawyer FUD (Score:5, Funny)
That's why I like to avoid absolute statements and generalizations: all it takes is one case to refute, even though the statement may be accurate for the majority and there may only be one or two cases that can refute it. It's like what they say about congressmen: the dishonest 534 make the rest look bad.
Still, wouldn't it be cool to discover that one supersmart cow? And kill it? And eat it and learn algebra? Mmmmmmm!
Re:hmm anti-lawyer FUD (Score:3, Funny)
It could do math by tapping out the answer with its hoof.
Unfortunately, it doesn't do math anymore.
Its only got three legs you see.
Cause, you know , you don't eat a cow like that all at once.
Re:hmm anti-lawyer FUD (Score:4, Funny)
Re:hmm anti-lawyer FUD (Score:2)
Enough lawyers should have a good grasp on technical issues that a) this kind of move would never be made in such a fashion, and b) that Lawrence Lessig should not have to stand out as few amoungst the masses.
Stereotypes aside, in general, the story is right. I doubt Lawrence Lessig would be overly miffed if the world changed tomorrow and there were m
You think you have problems! (Score:5, Funny)
Man, that's nothing... I remember when that Kid Rock CD instructed my hard drive to score some weed and a couple of hookers! Try explaining that to your wife!
Re:hmm anti-lawyer FUD (Score:5, Insightful)
Furthermore, I doubt that Sony's rootkit scheme was unconditionally approved by legal. Lawyers tend to be very conservative when giving advice. I can't imagine any competent lawyer giving the green light to this type of thing given the patchwork of laws regulating and potentially impacting the legality of this scheme and that's just within the US, nevermind internationally. Companies, especially large companies like Sony, are not run by attorneys; they're run by professional managers. It's not uncommon for managers to end run legal or simply ignore legal advice when it's not what they want to hear.
Re:hmm anti-lawyer FUD (Score:3, Interesting)
Based on that experience I can certainly assure you that most lawyers
are about as tech illiterate as you can find.
Not too surprising, as there is a noticable tendency:
"The more arrogant one is, the less likely one is to be literate with anything outside of one's immediate field"
Re:Oh, that guy is a lawyer? (Score:2, Informative)
I felt exactly the same way.
Here you go, I know it isn't perfect, but it is the closest I can come right now: COW Calculus [temple.edu]
use the attention (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:use the attention (Score:5, Insightful)
In talking with a few non-technical family members, part of the reason that this rootkit business is making headway with non-techy folks is because it is clear, in non-technical terms, that their music cd is "breaking" their computer. That computer that they find so damn incomprehensible, the one that they don't feel they have the expertise necessary to diagnose and fix.
Now they have a reason to blame their random computer slowness and its abberant behaviour on a big corporate monolith, (despite the fact that their computer probably contracted malware from elsewhere, seeing as they can't be bothered to patch it), and in having an identifiable target, they now want blood.
On one hand, I wish nothing but bad karma for Sony for putting a rootkit on people's machines. On the other, Sony is being made a scapegoat for the relative complexity of maintaining a secure and clean system.
Re:use the attention (Score:5, Informative)
You're right that computers are poorly designed when it comes to maintainability, but Sony deserve all the bad karma they are getting. They have a long history of abusing the trust of their customers, including installing spyware as standard on their Vaio computers. http://www.winpatrol.com/db/freesample/tgcmd.html [winpatrol.com]
Computers are complex (Score:2)
Cars are complex, but McDonnalds doesnt put a tracking device in rthe ignition system while I am buying a bigmac.
If the RIAA ran other industries.... (Score:5, Funny)
We'd be paying $1500.00 for a coast to coast airline ticket.
There'd be no interstate trucking industry. All freight would go by rail and canal.All television would be black and white. There'd be no VCR's (let alone PVR's!).
All radio would be AM.Telephones would all be dial. Long distance calls would be $2.50/minute.
We'd all still be using slide rules.There would be no foreign cars in the U.S.
There would be no sources of alternative energy (wiond, solar, etc.) whatsoever.And on and on. The RIAA wants to maintain the status quo at any cost. They have had ten years to adapt and have resisted at every turn. They all likely believe in Landrew (save us, save us, Landrew!).
They are pathetic.Re:If the RIAA ran other industries.... (Score:5, Funny)
Real men use the abacus to do math.
Slide-Rule using pansy.
Re:If the RIAA ran other industries.... (Score:3, Funny)
I think its Landru (Score:3, Funny)
"The crew of the Enterprise land on a new planet. Their first reactions are of wariness. As Mr Spock says: 'Odd. The expression on that man's face. Mindlessness. Vacant contentment'. Everyone in the society is happy: they all smile, and their standard greeting is 'joy to you'. This disturbs the heroes: in a society where everyone is this happy, something must be wrong. They intervene.
"They discover that the planet is ruled by a supposedly benign deity named 'Landrew', whose representativ
Re:If the RIAA ran other industries.... (Score:3, Insightful)
Look at DeBeers. In a relatively short time frame, they were able to convince people to spend "up to 2 months salary" for rocks from the ground that they don't want.
Here a completely artificial need and a tight control of the supply was created from scratch, and now most every man is brainwashed into buying a diamond for his woman.
Now we have an industry that already has an inherent demand, yet they are doing stupid stuff like suing their customers, wrecking
This rootkit will be remembered... (Score:5, Funny)
Debacle with good results? (Score:5, Insightful)
Perhaps it is too much to hope for, but it is certainly clear that the current system is completely out of whack. Perhaps it will collapse now and America can start considering why this was supposed to be a good idea in the first place. It's way past time to whack Mickey Mouse.
On the other hand, perhaps it doesn't matter. If you believe that the free exchange of creative ideas is a thing that benefits society, and that this encourages growth and development of a healthy society, then you must conclude it confers competitive advantage. Therefore, the societies that do better at encouraging creativity will eventually overwhelm the others--and nothing the **AA can do will stop that inevitable transition.
Re:Debacle with good results? (Score:2, Insightful)
To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries
Re:Debacle with good results? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Debacle with good results? (Score:2, Interesting)
Making money in hardware is hard work, but honest. The content business (pronounced "publishing") is an aspect of software with much higher profit potential, especially if you are willing to prostitute yourself and lie as needed (pronounced "marke
Re:Debacle with good results? (Score:2)
Cows, algebra, and slashdot (Score:5, Insightful)
It doesn't seem to stop every self proclaimed expert here from spouting off their particular pet theory that coiincidentally justifies their eMule use, nevertheless.
Re:Cows, algebra, and slashdot (Score:3, Insightful)
Alternatively, the solicitors DO get their word heard in the corridors of power and incorporated. Mainly because the corridors of power are filled with the mangement and lawyer types.
Re:Cows, algebra, and slashdot (Score:2)
Perhaps not, but every day we see effectively an important analog: technologists creating products that have the effect of executing policy despite a lack of respect for or training in underlying law, policy, or economics.
In slashdot, many people have bizarre notion that the guy who wired the atom bomb therefore becomes an expert on its use. While in practice we give a sort of respect and listen to the voices to those who invented
Re:Cows, algebra, and slashdot (Score:5, Insightful)
If everybody and their mother could download atom bombs from the Internet (I don't mean the blueprints, but complete with U238/plutonium, high-precision high-performance explosives to initiate fission and detonator) we'd all be in deep shit. I talk to my friends on IRC (P2P), I maintain my parent's Linux box via OpenSSH (encryption), IP is being broadcasted to my house 24/7 by TV and radio. To be honest, I don't really feel having an atom bomb would improve my quality of life. Taking away tools and services that I already make use of is something completely different.
The cat is already out of the bag. You can not turn back time. I don't know how many ways there are to say this, but if they want to introduce a DRM-Internet less capable than Arpanet, a PVR less capable than VHS/Betamax combined or an encryption so weak as to not be trustable, I won't accept it. I alone don't have any right to execute policy. But we, the people do have the right to execute policy. The government is nothing but an organization put in place by the people to serve the people. That is the fundament of democracy. By that I don't mean that each and everyone can go do whatever the fuck they like and ignore the law. But if we collectively use P2P and encryption and IP in a given way, I say that we hold that authority and not those we have elected to serve us. When the government starts to represent a will of its own that is not the one of the people, it is they that are in the wrong and us that are in the right.
Re:Cows, algebra, and slashdot (Score:2)
Lawyers and politicians however, don't generally bother finding out how a computer does what it does, as long as it does what they legislate it to do.
Re:Cows, algebra, and slashdot (Score:2)
I think it is because programming and legalese have opposite aims. Programming takes the fantastically complicated task of explaining the world to a computer and renders it into the simplest possible form. Legal documents take the most basic common sense and render it into the most obfuscated and complicated pos
You mean... (Score:5, Interesting)
Which brings up the method, again, of how the 'Dead dealt with bootlegging, by inviting bootleggers to give it thier best shot - This meant more publicity for the band, which led to more sales.
The record companies just won't let go. They want the model that puts them in control. Pricing control where they get to say which track sells for what amount, giving them leverage over the artist - bundleing, where trash tracks have to be purchased, whether the consumer wants them or not - consumer habit tracking, where they get first dibs on mining all that data...it goes on and on. The record companies just need to die, it's that simple.
In Sony's case, I guess this one can be laid at the feet of the lawyers, but hey, they've got their own business model to protect, and we all know where that one leads.
Why not just let the artists be in control for a while. Let the $$$ grabbers sell peanuts and t-shirts while the consumer enjoys decent music for a change.
Re:You mean... (Score:3, Insightful)
I am so sick and fucking tired of hearing this. The musicians have that control now, and they have always had that power. Nothing forces them to sign a contract with the record labels. Oh, you're probably going to counter that the labels have distribution channels locked up. Well, duh. These distribution channels would much rather deal with a small handful of entities (the labels) than bother negotiating with each and every artist. I keep hearin
They just don't get it. (Score:2)
Mashboxx the new pay P2P is backed by Sony (Score:2, Interesting)
The whole Sony rootkit contreversey will seriously damage the reputation of this p2p service that already faces a uphill battle to convert the already sceptical filesharing community.
Many in the tech community have vowed to boycott Sony produ
US Patent no. 62265781337 (Score:5, Funny)
Dir sirs,
The suggested apparatus is a sentient, grass-eating organism ("Cow"), that has or will be taught complex mathematical operations ("Algebra"), with or without the aid of various computational devices.
I intend to patent this "invention" and then go on and "licence" it to all cattle grows in the planet, which will have to pay or face my formidable legal team. In fact, I have already hired an "Intellectual property" law firm, who has assured me that I am loosing $5.6B every day - literally being stolen out of my pocket, and the plates of my children, by greedy farmers who will not respect the foundations of our economy.
Moreover, said lawyers have promised me that the USPTO and the courts will share their (my) view that every cow grazing grass is in fact performing complex calculations, probably for some foreign power like Iraq, or worse, Europe.
All the best,
Edgar Bronfman.
Cows with Guns (Score:2, Funny)
It Is Official (Score:3, Insightful)
You heard it here first
Plans Deferred (Score:5, Insightful)
Translation: Sony BMG needs to research how to make their next crippling system-level crack more undetectable before they try this exact same crap again. They don't give a second thought b0rk1ng their customer's computers, but they absolutely hate getting caught.
Duh (Score:3, Interesting)
But I don't really see why DRM like that is a huge problem. Unless they put their DRM Software on the 3 discs you have their permission to burn... this might
Re:Duh (Score:2)
Hmm yah
But even in that scenario, the music still needs to play *somewhere*. So I can take the output, plug it back into a recording device and record the song. Fancy D
Umm... Copyright? (Score:5, Insightful)
the boycott begins to pay off. (Score:5, Insightful)
The other reason was that most companies abandoned recruiting local talent. All we get in our shops is American R&B, all we see on TV is American Gangsta Crap. There is a shitload of bands out their, but none of the big labels will see or hear them. Ilse de Lange might be the last you've heard from the Netherlands.
Haven't bought a single CD since, except directly from the hands of the musician.
What About The Artists? (Score:5, Interesting)
I'm curious to know if on top of Sony's problems a rash of lawsuits will be filed by attorneys representing artists that either had their work defiled by the rootkits or those that want out of their contracts because Sony's miserable judgment will result in substantially reduced sales for any artist on a Sony label.
Anyone know about this or have an opinion?
Stitch
"There is no "I" in B-O-R-G"
Switcfoot was mortified and helped (Score:2)
Re:What About The Artists? (Score:3, Interesting)
The Bad Plus is an innovative jazz band that I really enjoy. I loved their album "These Are the Vistas" and had put "Suspicious Activity" on my end-of-year buying list of CDs I missed earlier in the year. I was also planning to see them live in Minneapolis right after Christmas.
Then I saw the CD on the list.
I sent an email to the band's management and promoters telling them how upset I was that their CD could mess up my c
Cut prices, allow personal copying. (Score:3, Insightful)
Translation: cut prices, allow personal copying w/o restrictions.
right.. (Score:4, Insightful)
Companies get away with murder, they tried to step on peoples feet again and they stepped on a very pissed off geeks feet and are now paying the price. If we had this uproar against all bullshit policies maybe the world would be a better place. But no, we're in a world of submissive consumers who won't say boo to a goose incase of a lawsuit.
Why not trade? (Score:5, Insightful)
I want high quality, which the online music stores do not provide (128k WMA and AAC SUCK for a serious music fan with even marginaly good equipment)
I want the ability to easily copy the music! I should be able to rip it to MP3 ort ogg for listening on a HTPC or iPod, or Dell DJ or an mp3 cell phone...
Now as I shop for CDs I will always wonder in the back of my mind, "does t6his have spy/scumware? a virus? a rootkit? what does "enhanced" mean? would I be safer DLing a 320k MP3 from (insert P2P of choice here)?"
Sony encouraging piracy? (Score:4, Interesting)
"... rather than adopting technological methods to try to stop unauthorized copying of music, record companies need to do more to remove the incentive for piracy."
I do find it rather ironic that I was, not five minutes ago, looking for an Oasis song (forgive me, its stuck in my head) on iTunes music store to purchase legally only to find out they are published by Sony-BMG who, in their infinite wisdom, have declined to be involved with the Australian iTunes music store [zdnet.com.au].
Given their current predilication for sticking DRM crap on CDs and the fact I only want one or two specific tracks, no sale for you. Good going Sony. What's a possible customer meant to do if you insist on treating us like (potential) criminals?
Issues that remain: (Score:5, Insightful)
Attacking customer computers seems to be the kind of thing that is part of the Sony corporate culture. There has been no apology [userfriendly.org], and Sony management makes statements giving the impression they will do it again if they think they can without bad publicity.
A music retail store spokesman said that Sony's attack became public just before Christmas. Customers can easily choose some other gift now that they are scared about computer attacks. Sony's attack has hurt the entire music industry, not just Sony. Also, the damage will continue after Christmas.
Few people are technically knowledgeable. The Sony CDs will be causing problems for many years, as they are traded or sold to thrift stores.
The number of computers already corrupted is probably far larger than the 500,000 quoted in articles about the Sony attack. That number is just the number of Domain Name Servers that show evidence that a computer has tried to contact the Sony phone home address. The average server would almost certainly service more than one corrupted computer.
One kind of attack has received attention. However, Sony apparently sells other CDs with other software that may also have negative consequences for Sony customers.
Following Microsoft's lead years ago, some businesses treat all their customers as crooks so that they can stop a few.
Have Sony effectively killed Bluray? (Score:2)
Problem is will anybody want to fit a Bluray disc in their computer after this fiasco?
It up to the people to put the music industry.... (Score:2)
The people here being the artist and their ability to make use of the internet to introduce themselves and promote themselves via the internet. And to do so to the point of having enough opf a following to then approach the industry with bargaining power.... "I'm taking bids on who will giove me the best deal"...
Everybody benefits this way... as the music industry wouldn't then need the risky practice of subsidizing of newbies (often failures) with profits made from the established ar
My stuff about the Sony's rootkit (Score:5, Informative)
Summary about the DRM, what it does, and what its problems are: http://hack.fi/~muzzy/sony-drm/info.html [hack.fi]
You can also find my research and opinions about the issue linked from there. Please send mail if you have anything to add or any corrections to my content.
Geeks continue to yuck it up: (Score:2)
Only sad thing is, most any of us could have told them that this would be a fiasco, but before this happened there's no way any of us would have been believed or noticed. It took a disaster like this to wake everybody up. Lucky thing it wasn't nuclear bombs, huh?
But I'm happy, anyway. Slashdot has been fun to read this week; Sonygate brings the co
Increased security awareness (Score:5, Insightful)
To a certain extent, this incident has increased the public awareness of computer security, which is a good thing.
Even Grandma knows what a rootkit is... (Score:3, Informative)
Are rights a zero-sum game? (Score:2, Insightful)
Lawyers and Cows (Score:2)
They would have made sure that the weaknesses in the DVD encryption scheme wasn't in their scheme (which dvdjon cracked in October 1999, so the music industry would have been aware of the
Re:Lawyers and Cows (Score:3, Insightful)
Where have you been?! Two such standards have been released and have been on sale for several years. Sony's SACD and everyone else's DVD-A. The problem is that no one gives a damn about them.
Or did you want the music industry to force these flops down the consumers' throats by eliminating the traditional CD?! That would have been corporate suicide as the backlash would have been phenomenal.
Re:Neither are viable solutions (Score:3, Insightful)
From what I've understood, SACD is in quite widespread use today as hybrid CD/SACD discs. Just about every argument you had about them being inferior to CD pretty much went out the window, since they are at least equal to a CD. But as you say, hardly anyone has a SACD-compatible system due to the wierd bitstream, it's not so much that it is proprietary but wildly different, instead of 16bit/44.1KHz it's something like 1bit/2.83MHz. So if you really want the added resolution,
Oppression to reclaim unserved demands ... stupid! (Score:3, Interesting)
He believes that rather than adopting technological methods to try to stop unauthorized copying of music, record companies need to do more to remove the incentive for piracy."
Yes, as always, innovation (of products, price, distribution and markets) to match actual demands is almost certainly superior to oppression and enforcing old entrenched business models by law ... but why is noone listening? Do they all need to live through oppression on their own to get a clue?
Van Zant is taking heat (Score:2, Redundant)
Another backlash to come (Score:3, Insightful)
Where the hell where they ?
I personnaly uninstalled Norton Security from my computer as it's now clear that they can not protect me from emerging threats.
The threats of today are not the threats of tomorrow and security firms have to adjust in consequences.
Threats of today : Companies hiding stuff in your computer and correlation between companies. Think Windows Vista.
Threats of tomorrow : Don't ask security firms
Linux/Mac is not an alternative to this shit if you like to play the latest games.
A New Business Model... (Score:4, Insightful)
Here are the main points:
* Artists would retain all rights to their own music. Copyrights would be in the names of the artists and bands, not the studio.
* All contracts with the studio are open ended, they never expire, and allow the artists and/or bands to back out of them at any time. The artists and bands ARE NOT employees of the studio, the studio is strictly a service to them to get their music published and on the radio.
* The studio would only retain publishing rights, not ownership. The studio's publishing rights ends when the contracts end.
* Music would be published on CD and via a paid P2P service similar to iTunes or Napster. Downloaded music could be used on MP3 players (including the iPod) and burned to CD an unlimited number of times.
* Music CDs published by the studio would contain CD Extra content such as interviews with the artists and bands, music videos, printable lyrics sheets for all the music on the CD, and news about the artists or bands updated via RSS Feed daily.
* A PR Department of the studio would help with merchandising the artist or band. The artist and/or band retains the copyrights and trademarks of all merchandise. The studio receives a percentage of sales as a fee.
* The studio would pioneer the Open Media License, or OML. The OML like the GPL, but for music, video and literature, would apply to media that is offered free of copyrights and trademarks and can be downloaded, used, and even altered without restriction depending on the OML License that is used.
Basically, the artists and bands have full control over everything, and the studio becomes their client offering CD publishing services, P2P music sales and distribution, marketing and advertising, and the artists and bands retain all the copyrights and trademarks. A studio like this I think would set the whole recording industry on its head.
Any comments? If you know a VC who can help me please let me know.
Sony HAS BEEN GREAT! (Score:4, Insightful)
- Windows users all over the place have turned off autoplay on their machines, so they won't get infected again
- Nerds everywhere will be posting ways to defeat whatever shows up in the future
- The whole industry (and Sony in particular, thank God) is trembling about taking the risk of the ire of the computer industry if they screw these things up again
- The fact that it took 6 months or more to discover this rootkit is a GOOD thing, as the damage done is now more noteworthy and it has caused more damage than if it was discovered quickly
- There's been a ton of bad press, meaning the awareness of 'fake' CDs that are really copy-protected disks has been raised, even in the minds of many non-technical people
How much money would it have cost to arrange for this ourselves? Way to go Sony! Your long-standing behavior toward proprietary and lock-in types of behavior (Betamax, Minidisc, Memory Stick, and now rootkits) has *really* hosed you up good this time!
Us Slashdotters owe Sony a debt of gratitude.
Lawyers, cows, and algebra (Score:3, Insightful)
It's not the lawyers at fault here, it's the courts. Judges (and moreso juries) are people too. Even if this case went before a judge, there is a lot of technicality that would probably need to be very much reworded in order for him/her to understand. One of the problems with law is that one not only need to understand law (a difficult task in itself), but how it applies to the case at hand. In technology we've been getting by using laws pieced together from non-technical applications - sometimes coming out OK but often ending in disaster.
Even if the lawyers understand tech (Lessig, for example), you still need a judge and/or jury that understands it... and possibly more importantly laws that actual deal with tech rather than vaguely related scenarios/applications that have been applied to tech.
Comment removed (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:What would be good... (Score:5, Insightful)
What you meant to say is
Music downloads are for people who don't fully *appreciate* music the way I do
I can perfectly well appreciate my iTMS downloads on less "snobbish" equipment. I don't require the knowledge of having spent tons of cash for a "resonable hi-fi setup" in order to enjoy listening to music. In fact, even the el-cheapo earphones that come with iPods will do. That is because my interest is in music and not in expensive equipment.
I have something to sell to you! (Score:3, Insightful)
Great! Then you would be interested in buying my own version of Beethoven's Ninth, sung by myself in the shower? If, as you say, any "el cheapo" earphones are okay, then maybe an "el cheapo" artist as myself would also do? What really matters is music itself, not the quality of the recording, right?
Re:What would be good... (Score:2, Interesting)
To me... free music should be a vehicel to sell licensed CD cases, covers, bumperstickers and the like. I "could" pirate using an inkjet
With apologies for harping on about this... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:What would be good... (Score:4, Funny)
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:What would be good... (Score:4, Insightful)
Every generation complains about the music that the following generation prefers. Every single one in history.
There will be classic popular tunes of the 200x decade that people will still listen to in 2050, just like we still listen to Elvis and the Beatles today. But not everything in current charts will survive this long. But it's the same with 1950s pop music. Look at the old chart hits of the 1950s and you will note that only few of those pop tunes and artits of that era survived music history.
Throwaway, easy-to-consume music existed in the 1950s, as well, and it's forgotten today.
Try this (Score:3, Insightful)
Try sitting in a dark room with your eyes closed and put on some of your favourite music - either in headphones or a good quality stereo. I tend to lie in bed with good headphones
Now REALLY listen to the music. Focus on the different layers. L
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:CD audiophile (Score:3, Interesting)
The reason I think we are arguing here is your limited definition of the word "appreciated", and the special status you give yourself in regard to this term.
There are several dimensions to appreciating music:
1) the meaning of the lyrics
2) associations and memories triggered by the m
Re:For me this is a no-brainer (Score:2)
The one I like is "Nobody will want to pull a Sony now."
Like it's a bad thing that corporations learn that invasive and damaging approaches to IP protection actually tick off consumers and cause lawsuits? The only surprise is that they had to learn by doing instead of just asking a few computer maintenance techs how they feel about the rootkit approach!
Re:For me this is a no-brainer (Score:3, Insightful)
What they missed was the possibility that, once the geeks figured out what was going on, that they could explain it to the masses in a way that they could understand just how ba
Re:For me this is a no-brainer (Score:5, Insightful)
The music industry is - at it's base - "selling" to artists the service for distributing music.
That means (or meant) basically the technology to record and produce music to sound storage mediums, the marketing to promote it and the infrastructure to distribute it.
The recording technology became commodity with the advent of digital recording, marketing was never a unique selling point for them, and the infrastructure question is answered by the internet.
For years now they reaped the benefits of vastly cheaper production, but now they are facing a situation where the everything has come together even for the average music customer.
In my opinion, what they are trying to do with that DRM stuff is trying to put the genie back in the bottle, by recapturing control of the distribution channel. Not only because of pirating, but also to save the heart of their business model.
Re:For me this is a no-brainer (Score:3)
Re:For me this is a no-brainer (Score:2, Insightful)
And it's about fucking time. I believe I've written a few posts on this subject in the past. Most people just don't get what's really going on and why.
In my opinion, what they are trying to do with that DRM stuff is trying to put the genie back in the bottle, by recapturing control of the distribution channel. Not only because of pirating, but also to save the heart of their business model.
Exactly. The real risk isn't even the DRM stuff though, it's t
Re:For me this is a no-brainer (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:The industry's real failure - DVD-Audio (Score:3, Informative)
The whole audio format situation is screwed beyond belief with no format really doing the job of providing both top quality and reasonable flexibility of use.