A possible SonyBMG class-action settlement [LWN.net]

Michael Geist reports that a provisional settlement has been reached in one of the SonyBMG rootkit class action suits. "The compensation for XCP purchasers includes the replacement of the CD with a version without copy-protection and the choice of either (i) US$7.50 plus one free album download or (ii) three free album downloads (Sony will select at least 200 eligible titles). The compensation for Media Max offers fewer free album downloads." More interesting, perhaps, are the constraints placed on Sony to stop shipping XCP and MediaMax-protected disks and to generally behave better - until 2008. See the proposed settlement [PDF] for the details.

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A possible SonyBMG class-action settlement

Posted Dec 30, 2005 8:55 UTC (Fri) by Wol (guest, #4433) [Link]

"Class members must assert that they have run the uninstaller or the removal tool" (non-literal quote).

What about those people (like me) who did a "format c:"?

Okay, as a non-American, I can't be a class member, but there must be plenty of class members like me!

Cheers,
Wol

A possible SonyBMG class-action settlement

Posted Dec 30, 2005 9:10 UTC (Fri) by hppnq (subscriber, #14462) [Link]

Do you still have the original cd? ;-)

A possible SonyBMG class-action settlement

Posted Dec 30, 2005 11:27 UTC (Fri) by Wol (guest, #4433) [Link]

Yes I do. BUT THAT'S NOT GOOD ENOUGH!

Go to page 18, and notice "That to take part in the exchange program ..." it is a requirement that I have "(3) run the XCP uninstaller or updater".

So in order to get a good CD that I can safely play in my computer, I *M*U*S*T* first run the infected and dangerous CD! That's just dire!

Oh - and I don't actually have a clue what protection is on my CD, but I strongly suspect it's MediaMax which isn't (for some strange reason) included in the recall program!

The more I look at this "settlement", the more I think it looks like a trojan horse :-(

Cheers,
Wol

install the spyware in a novel way then

Posted Dec 30, 2005 16:16 UTC (Fri) by stuart (subscriber, #623) [Link]

Run it under wine or macos X etc. The fact the program doesn't execute in the way they intended is hardly your problem is it? For that matter run it through notepad.exe on windows.

Above all, stop worrying about the terms of the settlement. The shocking thing is people were prepared to settle at all.

Stu.

A possible SonyBMG class-action settlement

Posted Dec 30, 2005 14:16 UTC (Fri) by foo (guest, #1117) [Link]

> Sony will select at least 200 eligible titles

I remember on a previous settlement, these ended up
being "A Very Yanni Christmas" and the like, and of
the thousands of successful plaintiffs, only a couple
took them up on the offer.

A possible SonyBMG class-action settlement

Posted Jan 2, 2006 15:57 UTC (Mon) by holstein (subscriber, #6122) [Link]

(i) US$7.50 plus one free album download or (ii) three free album downloads

Does that means that, according to Sony, a downloadable album is worth 3.75$?

That would be a really interesting price...