Rip's Discussion Topic #4

[Rip]

Sony has been in a lot of hot water lately in a variety of areas. I may eventually bring up the exploding laptop battery subject if it hits the courts, but for now the hot subject in the music world seems to be DRM. Digital Rights Management caries some serious implications when it comes to music listening, essentially placing restrictions on when and how you can use the music your purchase. While that sounds rather extreme with such a broad definition, think of it along the lines of itunes song’s working on a user’s computer (or up to five through their account) and an ipod device. Transferring the information to another medium is not directly allowed, but possible through indirect methods. Sony on the other hand went so far with their DRM to actually include on music CD’s what is known as a rootkit. This type of software, usually used by malicious code, is designed to install without the user’s knowledge and is difficult to detect. In nearly every case, it is highly illegal as well, found most often in some form of hacking operation. After cleaning up a giant marketing mess with their rootkits in the US, they’re currently stumbling in law courts to our north. The Canadian settlement has a few sticking points with Sony BMG, and the unwillingness they’re showing compared to the US settlement has raised some eyebrows. Essentially the biggest issue occurs from the disparity between the US version and the Canadian settlement, specifically on a clause that restricts Sony from ever doing anything similar with their DRM in the future. This case should be playing out within the next few weeks, depending on the speed of the Canadian legal system.
A very cursory overview, but what are your thoughts on two subjects. First off - what are your opinion's on sony's rootkit issue (say compared to Windows Genuine Advantage stuff and the issues around that), and secondly - should there be separate settlements in Canada? (Sorry this isn't the newest thing, but still interesting)

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060919-7780.html

[edx]

Just for personal clarification, isnt this an ongoing ordeal? I somewhat remember reading about this a few years ago.

[xi Apocalypse ix]

That sounds like Sony wanted some trouble. How long is this suppose to happen?

[Rip]

The DRM issue is fairly old now, however the canadian settlement issue is a fairly recent development. Sony has been settling the issue for a long time, the US resolution was reached a while ago, but canada still is going through its paces.