2005.11.11
Ban Sony-BMG
After reading this article I think there should be a general boycott of Sony-BMG. Their EULA (end user license agreement) is the worst thing I think I’ve ever heard.
Just to catch a few of you up, Sony-BMG has started making their CDs so you are required to install software on your PC if you want to play the CD. It turns out this software is a rootkit designed to spy on you and inhibit you from using your computer freely (not to mention compromise your security). They released an update that really doesn’t solve the problem.
Anyways, on top of the rootkit problem, they also have the EULA that turns you into their bitch. Stop buying music from Sony-BMG until they get their acts together. True, these musicians might not get their half a penny to the dollar from sales, but then maybe they should get on their record company’s butts on behalf of their fans.
UPDATE: 2005.11.11
It turns out at least a few of the CDs shipped were targeting Macintosh computers, too.
Some Danish Guy pointed out to me that Sony-BMG has conceded they fscked up and will not put out anymore disks with the rootkit on it. At least until they reevaluate what they are doing and come up with a better way of owning your music and, by proxy, your computer.
Of course this leaves thousands of users out there who have had their computer’s security compromised, and who can only get $5 compensation because they did agree to the EULA (see first paragraph) Sony-BMG forced them to agree to so they could listen to the music they themselves paid for. Hopefully a few class action lawsuits, even though only the lawyers will get rich from it, will make other record companies think twice. Even better for consumers around the world would be if the European Union steps in.
Sony-BMG should, free of charge, offer tools to completely remove the rootkit they installed. Further, free of charge, they should replace the consumer’s CDs with uncompromised versions of what they purchased. Not “credit towards a future purchase,” and not “send us a self addressed stamped envelope” or any other excuse.
In the meantime, keep banning Sony-BMG.
1 Comment Categorized: apple audio grrr technology
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One Response to “Ban Sony-BMG”
- douglas.nerad » Sony-BMG Update says (October 1st, 2006 at 21:18:12 )
[...] Amongst all the crappy news coming from the Sony-BMG fiasco comes this ray of light. They are finally recalling the CDs from consumers. Go to this site and you can apparently get a new CD (or set of MP3s) without the XCP rootkit. About bloody time. I’m still not planning on supporting them, though, but that’s me. [...]
