 Sony software: dumb, defective and dangerous
Wednesday, 23 November 2005
Sony have embarrassed themselves recently with their dumb, defective and dangerous attempt at copy protecting some CD releases under their “Sony BMG” label.
Most major anti-virus companies have already identified the software as spyware. Computer Associates, for instance, have labelled it as:
“A trojan that opens security vulnerabilities through rootkit functionality.”
As if the surreptitious way the software installs and runs on your PC is not enough, then just try uninstalling it. Yep, you guessed it: the software doesn’t have an uninstaller. Instead, you have to goto their website, fill in their online form and then wait for the uninstall instructions to be mailed back to you. Worse still, their privacy policy tells you that they reserve the right to use your email address for marketing purposes.
For those of you who have the software already installed, the bad news is that the inherent security risks have already been exploited. The security flaw was discovered by Windows expert Mark Russinovich a few weeks ago, who goes on to say:
“There’s more to the story than rootkits, however, and that’s where I think Sony is missing the point. As I’ve pointed out in press interviews related to the post, the EULA does not disclose the software’s use of cloaking or the fact that it comes with no uninstall facility. An end user is not only installing software when they agree to the EULA, they are losing control of part of the computer, which has both reliability and security implications. There’s no way to ensure that you have up-to-date security patches for software you don’t know you have and there’s no way to remove, update or even identify hidden software that’s crashing your computer.”
Hands up those who bothered to read the end user license agreement when they installed this malware in the first place? Anyone?
My own experience with Sony digital cameras has up until now led me to the conclusion that they make good cameras but lousy software. But this is more than just lousy, this is a major stuff-up. The good news is that the lawsuits have already commenced.
Because I value my privacy, I’m boycotting all Sony CDs, whether they’re copy-protected or not. In fact I’ll be thinking twice about buying any Sony products at all.
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