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The Sony rootkit saga continues. This has turned into such a fiasco that you can't visit any news web site without reading a new article about it. I'll try to stick to the high points here.

First, in case you haven't heard about any of this already, Sony-BMG sold millions of CDs that install a sloppily-written rootkit to hide a copy-protection program. Not only did they fail to disclose this, the rootkit can be exploited to hide trojans, viruses and other malware. Try to remove it and you could disable your CD-ROM drive.

When it became clear that the public was growing more and more outraged, Sony offered a removal tool. Unfortunately, their removal tool was written as poorly as their rootkit. It is an ActiveX program which installs into Internet Explorer. Anyone with that ActiveX program installed is at risk of any web page using it to install their own software. The uninstaller tool is more dangerous than the rootkit that it was designed to remove.

Sony-BMG is facing at least three class-action lawsuits, with more possibly on the way. They are being sued by the State of Texas for violating their new antispyware law. An Italian electronic rights group has filed a complaint with the Italian police and are asking for a criminal investigation. The artists whose music Sony-BMG distributes are outraged; and a few music labels are considering taking legal action.

To top it all off, the US Department of Homeland Security is angry at Sony because they discovered that the rootkit was installed on several computers at that agency. Someone at Sony-BMG potentially could go to federal prison over that last one.

Another interesting discovery was made recently. Some of the software code in the copy protection program was used in violation of the copyright license. They used code from an open source MP3 encoder but failed distribute the source code of their modifications or even to disclose that they had used it. So, it is okay to break someone's copyright, as long as you are doing so to protect your own?

You really have to wonder what is going on at Sony. It is a simple matter to install any one of dozens of programs and download any piece of music you want for free. You can have it in MP3, OGG or any other format you want. You can play it on any music-playing device or program you choose.

Rather than showing respect for the people who choose to pay for their music and buy the CD, Sony violates numerous laws and even violates someone else's copyright to install a hidden trojan. All of this effort just to restrict how you can use the music you have purchased. You can't even transfer the songs to an iPod without a complicated workaround.

They wonder why people download the music for free? I'll tell them why. It's because the music you can download for free is more valuable than what they sell. When the product is inferior and costs more, people will ignore it and use the superior version. It is a very simple concept. Do these people not go to business school?

Companies like Sony are doing far more to encourage the unauthorized distribution of music over P2P than any of the companies who make the P2P programs.

The very worst part of this situation is how Sony-BMG responded to the public outrage over their use of a criminal's tool: "Most people, I think, don't even know what a rootkit is, so why should they care about it?" - Thomas Hesse, President of Sony BMG's global digital business division.

This is Sony's attitude towards their customers. They have demonstrated nothing but malevolent contempt for the people who purchase their products. I don't know about you but I will not do business with people who act this way. Because of this, I will never buy a music CD, DVD or any other product made by Sony.

thanks to spyware info. and pcqanda