Music giant uses spyware and virus writers' techniques to prevent unauthorized music copying.
Mark Russinovich couldn't understand how the rootkit had sneaked onto his system. An expert on the internals of the Windows operating system, he was careful when it came to computer security and generally had a pretty good idea of what was running on his PC at any given time. And yet the security tool he was using to check his PC was pretty clear: It had found the rootkit cloaking software typically used by virus and spyware writers.
After a bit of detective work, Russinovich eventually tracked down the source: a Sony BMG Music Entertainment CD titled Get Right with the Man, performed by country music duo Donnie and Johnny Van Zant.
It turns out that Sony is using techniques normally seen only in spyware and computer viruses in order to restrict the unauthorized copying of some of its music CDs. Sony's software, licensed by Sony from a Banbury, UK, company called First 4 Internet, has become the basis of a dispute that once again pits computer advocates against an entertainment company experimenting with new ways to prevent the unauthorized copying of its products...
The slashdotters already posted a fix for the Sony malware here.
