[Rev-Hed]

*Can someone sticky this please*

CD’s affected by the Sony-BMG spyware

The Sony rootkit tale, thankfully, is quickly gaining momentum in the mainstream press. The rootkit, for the unaware, is a piece of malware/spyware that installs itself deep within Windows to protect the contents of the music CD. Sony-BMG would have you believe that only “20 CD titles use this form of copy protection”. You’d like to believe that after getting emberassed about using a rootkit to protect their music, that Sony Executives would come clean about how many releases are ‘infected’ by the spyware.

Well, your either wrong, or somewhat right, depending on how you look at the situation.

The list I have cobbled together, includes a whopping 45 new releases. Thats right, 45. And to be honest, there could be more. There seems to be no rhyme or reason to the list, other than the fact that they were all released within the last 6 months. There are a few names, but to be honest the most are artists that I’ve never heard of.

Foo Fighters - In Your Honour
Van Zant - Get Right with the Man
Ricky Martin - Life
Celine Dion - On Ne Change Pas
Neil Diamond - 12 Songs
Natasha Bedingfield - Unwritten
Kings of Leon - Aha Shake Heartbreak
Chris Botti - To Love Again
Switchfoot - Nothing Is Sound
Patty Loveless - Dreamin’ My Dreams
Montgomery Gentry - Something To Be Proud Of: The Best of 1999-2005
Mary Mary - Mary Mary
David Gray - Life In Slow Motion
Bob Brookmeyer - Bob Brookmeyer & Friends
Shelly Fairchild - Ride
Kasabian - Kasbian
Pete Seeger - The Essential Pete Seeger
The Bad Plus - Suspicious Activity
Elkland - Golden
Susie Suh - Susie Suh
Buddy Jewel - Times Like These
Chayanne - Cautivo
A Static Lullaby - Faso Latido
Our Lady Peace - Healthy In Paranoid Times
The Coral - The Invisible Invasion
Dexter Gordon - Manhattan Symphonie
Acceptance - Phantoms
Dion - The Essential Dion
The Dead 60s - The Dead 60s
Goapele - Change It All
Los Lonely Boys - TBD
Life of Agony - Broken Valley
George Jones - My Very Special Guests
Horace Silver - Silver’s Blue
Amici Forever - Defined
Ahmed Jamal - The Legendary Okeh and Epic Recordings
Anna Nalick - Wreck of the Day
Hitch - Soundtrack
Charlotte Martin - On Your Shore
Vivian Green - Vivian
Raheem DeVaughn - The Love Experience
Amerie - Touch
Nivea - Complicated
Mario - Turning Point
G3 - Live In Tokyo

So how on earth could Sony get away with this outright fabrication? The answer may luy in how you view the relationship between Sony, and their sister and sub-companies. Sony-BMG Music Entertainment, is a 50/50 joint venture that comprises several labels such as: Sony (duh!), Arista, Jive, Epic, Columbia, and several more. Those 47 albums, are comprised of releases across all these sub labels.

So it seems Sony is using the vast umbrella of all their business to feed their DRM monster.







How To Spot Sony's Rootkit

Tip-off #1: on the front of the CD, at the left-most edge, in the transparent "spine", you'll see "CONTENT PROTECTED" along with the IFPI copy-protection logo. A few photos make this clearer.





Tip-off #2: on the back of the CD, on the bottom or right side, there will be a "Compatible with" disclosure box. Along with compatibility information, the box also includes a URL where you can get help. The URL has a telltale admission buried in it: cp.sonybmg.com/xcp. That lets you know that XCP is on this disc (discs protected with SunnComm have a different URL that includes "sunncomm").

[Rev-Hed]

So basically what the problem is, when you put one of these cd's into your computer it inserts the file (XCP) onto your Windows system!

Virus's can hide within this file. Also with this file your anti-virus will say it's a virus and delete the file.

If the file is then deleted your cd-rom will no longer work and you will have to re-install Windows OS!




I guess there is only one advantage of having this file on your computer. If you play online games like WOW, you can hide your cheats within this file and the "puke" system that online games use to find cheats will not be able to find them within that file!



So yeah, keep your eye out on the cover's of new cd's!

Cheers.

[Rev-Hed]

Just found this news article!

Have a read!

Quote

Sony sued over copy-protected CDs

Sony BMG is facing three lawsuits over its controversial anti-piracy software.
Revealed in late October by Windows expert Mark Russinovich, the software copy protection system hides using virus-like techniques.

One class-action lawsuit has already been filed in California and another is expected in New York.

Digital rights group, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), is also gathering information from users to see if a case can be brought.

Court claim

The row erupted following Mark Russinovich's discovery that Sony BMG in America was using a so-called "root kit" to conceal the program used to stop some of its CDs being copied.

"Root kits" are being increasingly used by virus makers to hide their malicious wares deep inside the Windows operating system.

Sony BMG used a program called XCP created by UK firm First 4 Internet that employed similar cloaking systems to hide the proprietary media player used to play tracks on 20 CDs made by the music giant and sold in the US.

But since Dr Russinovich wrote about his discovery the row has snowballed and now has led to lawsuits being filed against Sony BMG.

One filed in Los Angeles by Californian attorney Alan Himmelfarb wants to stop Sony BMG selling more CDs protected by anti-copying software and seeks damages for Californians that have bought any albums protected this way.

According to a report in the Washington Post the lawsuit alleges that Sony BMG has broken three Californian laws. At the same time New York lawyer Scott Kamber is planning a class-action lawsuit for all Americans affected.

The EFF is also gathering stories from buyers of Sony BMG CDs protected with XCP. In a statement the organisation said: "We're considering whether the effect on the public, or on EFF members, is sufficiently serious to merit a lawsuit".

At the same time the Italian digital rights group, Electronic Frontiers Italy, has asked the nation's government to investigate Sony over its use of anti-piracy software.

A weblog documenting the unfolding controversy and calling for a boycott of Sony products has also been created.

When contacted a representative for Sony BMG in the UK referred all calls to its corporate headquarters in New York. A call to a spokesman in that office has yet to be returned.

Artist list

The EFF also released a partial list of all the CDs protected with XCP. The list includes popular artists such as Natasha Bedingfield, Celine Dion and Amerie. It also gave advice for ways to spot if a CD is XCP protected.

So far Sony BMG has not released a list of how many CDs are protected or how many have been sold. It has only said that "about 20" titles are protected with the controversial program.

However, the row does not appear to be denting interest in one of the CDs protected by XCP because at the time of writing Neil Diamond's 12 Songs album was the top seller on the Amazon.com website.

Anti-virus companies are starting to release software that can spot the XCP files. Symantec said it had made tools that can find the files but will not remove them.

Computer Associates said that it would be releasing a tool to completely uninstall the XCP program.

At the same time anti-virus firm Kaspersky Labs branded the XCP program spyware because it hides itself, could compromise security and can slow machines down.

Dr Russinovich has continued his investigation of the XCP software and has confirmed that when installed it can make a Windows computer more unreliable.

He also criticised Sony BMG for making it difficult to get hold of software that can uninstall XCP.

So yeah!

I reckon SONY are just GAYE!

[AROGNT]

yeah was a big thing on this on triple J a while back... was when the Beastie Boys album came out...

said that you had nothing to worry about think its all a bit of hype by people that want to copy music etc...

you can still get around it too... mate does it all the time... not sure how but he does something... god damn computer nerds... lol

[Rev-Hed]

Yeah, there is no problem with copying the CD. That is the easy part to get around!

It's getting rid of the XCP file that is the problem!

[KITTEN]

I'm too lazy to read through all that seeing as I dont buy CD's, let alone play them through my fully sick computer speakers, but what does the file actually do? If it doesnt do anything bad unless your trying to copy a CD, what's the problem?

[Rev-Hed]

KITTEN, on Nov 16 2005, 11:34 AM, said:

I'm too lazy to read through all that seeing as I dont buy CD's, let alone play them through my fully sick computer speakers, but what does the file actually do? If it doesnt do anything bad unless your trying to copy a CD, what's the problem?

The XCP file acts as a virus, and there are virus's out there that embed itself into the Sony XCP file!

This is when you get the problem when you delete the file!

It voids the ability to use your CD-ROM again!

So yes, I would say it actually causes a few problems when your anti-virus deletes the file!

[SATAN]

so the sony thing is like a breeding ground for new virus's shan?

[HSV001]

what he's saying, and i think already said (i think.... lol), is that the XCP file embeds itself deep inside your hard drive, and virus store themselves in it. Then when you try and delete the infected file (being XCP), it renders your CD-Rom drive useless, as the file has been deleted and therefore you have to re-install your OS (windows etc)... That right Shan?

[SATAN]

cool thanks for that col....

[HSV001]

i think thats what he meant anyway lol

[BLOWN-VT]

ok pinned

just for a week or so

[Rev-Hed]

HSV001, on Nov 16 2005, 02:08 PM, said:

what he's saying, and i think already said (i think.... lol), is that the XCP file embeds itself deep inside your hard drive, and virus store themselves in it. Then when you try and delete the infected file (being XCP), it renders your CD-Rom drive useless, as the file has been deleted and therefore you have to re-install your OS (windows etc)... That right Shan?

yeah mate, you hit the nail on the head!


Cheers for making it a sticky for a week or two Brownie!

Just gotta make sure people see this and dont use those cd's on their computer.

[Ben]

I'd like to clarify something here...

When Shannon says that the software "acts like a virus" - basically what it does is it hides itself from Windows and runs as a hidden process.

If you have Windows XP, hit CTRL-ALT-DEL - that will bring up your Task Manager. Then click on the "Processes" tab.

That should give you a list of EVERY process that's running on your computer. Right? Wrong.

The Sony software is what's called a "rootkit" (it's called that because the administrator on Unix systems is called "root" - but I digress).

Basically what it does is it runs as a hidden process - that means it won't show up in your list of running processes and it hides from anything that tries to detect it.

Not only does that make it more difficult to remove but it also means that other software (like a virus, or a cheat program for WoW) can piggyback onto the Sony software and run as hidden as well.

Basically the software makes your computer more vulnerable to exploits and malicious software (like viruses etc), and makes those exploits harder to remove.

That's the long explanation..... short one is, it's bad, mmmkay!

Oh and I just checked my copy of Foo Fighters - In Your Honor (I have had it for a few months) and it doesn't show any of the tell tale signs mentioned in that article. I'm guessing it's only more recent versions of the album that are affected.

[Pushrod8s]

It's easy to get around though :rollseyes: