Monday, October 31, 2005

Do Not Buy Sony Music CDs

As part of its new "Digital Rights Management" system -- which is used to copy protect music bought on their CDs -- Sony installs a piece of potentially malicious code called a "root kit." "Root kit" is defined here. It is a back-door program that interrupts and intercepts your computer's functioning.

Slashdot, the hard-core nerd's news source, listed the issue today. It references this article from SysInternals.com -- another very techie web information source.

It makes interesting reading for those that are versed in such things. The issue is that the software is installed, it takes over key sections of your system, is badly written, cannot be easily uninstalled, and opens a potential hole in the security of your computer. It is too invasive and is a heavy-handed approach to securing rights to digital music. Just don't buy it -- if you buy music, buy it from non-copy-protected CDs or Apple iTunes.