Don't want a rootkit? Stop buying from Sony...
Don't want a rootkit? Stop buying from Sony...
Posted Nov 15, 2005 19:38 UTC (Tue) by kh (guest, #19413)In reply to: Don't want a rootkit? Stop buying from Sony... by riel
Parent article: Sony's rootkit: an update
Instead of complaining or boycotting, I wish we could support some other standard - I wonder if some of the Free Software (and Free Culture) folks could approach the people developing the EVD format.
Posted Nov 15, 2005 20:15 UTC (Tue)
by proski (subscriber, #104)
[Link] (1 responses)
Sure, having a data disc format unencumbered by Sony patents would punish them, but I don't see how regular LWN readers could help with that.
Posted Nov 16, 2005 14:21 UTC (Wed)
by kh (guest, #19413)
[Link]
Posted Nov 16, 2005 12:02 UTC (Wed)
by csamuel (✭ supporter ✭, #2624)
[Link] (2 responses)
Remember that these silver discs are NOT CD's - they do
not comply with the CD standard and so cannot have the logo.
As this BBC
article from the 4th November says, Philips are quite clear on this
point:
Posted Nov 18, 2005 2:16 UTC (Fri)
by bk (guest, #25617)
[Link] (1 responses)
If not, the EULA is demonstrably false and misleading (bad news for Sony), if they do then it looks like one of the big five has found a way around the standards issue (bad for the public).
Posted Nov 20, 2005 9:20 UTC (Sun)
by Ross (guest, #4065)
[Link]
Actually, the CD format is OK. The problems are the autorun feature implemented unsafely by Microsoft (the user is not informed that the software is going to be run) plus Sony's abuse of the customers' trust (users don't expect bad things from a well known company).
Don't want a rootkit? Stop buying from Sony...
Sorry for not spelling it out better... the parent was speaking about boycotting Sony, and I read that as boycotting all of their products, not just their music discs. And where as a straight CD is not a problem format for Linux, DVD, and the upcoming HD-DVD or Blu-Ray I suspect will not be easily accessible in Linux. But perhaps the EVD backers would be easier to work with? Don't want a rootkit? Stop buying from Sony...
They're not CD's!
As far back as 2002, Philips representative Klaus Petri told Financial
Times Deutschland that "those are silver discs with music data that
resemble CDs, but aren't".
The Sony EULA claims that the CDs are Red Book, meaning that they do conform to the CD standard as defined by Philips. I would be interested to see if they actually carry the Compact Disc Digital Audio logo. They're not CD's!
I believe the other poster was thinking of some other copy prevention schemes pushed by the major record companies which use non-compliant discs. The owner of the CD mark even threatened to take away their right to use it. This scheme uses a Windows misfeature and a rootkit to do its work. There's no reason for it not to be a real CD.They're not CD's!