Sony Unit To Distribute Software Patch For Hidden "Rootkit"
We reported earlier about Sony Music and their cloaking music CD copy protection that installs on Windows PC's when Sony Music CD's are played here. Now after a chorus of criticism, Sony Corp.'s music division said Wednesday it is distributing a free software patch to reveal hidden files that automatically installed to hard drives when some of its music CDs were played on personal computers. The offending technology was designed to thwart music piracy. Sony BMG Music Entertainment and its partner, UK-based First 4 Internet, said they decided to offer the patch as a precaution, not because of any security vulnerability, which some critics had alleged.
The controversy started Monday after Windows expert Mark Russinovich posted a Web log report on how he found hidden files on his PC after playing a Van Zant CD. He also said it disabled his CD drive after he tried to manually remove it. Russinovich made the discovery while running a program he had written for uncovering file-cloaking "RootKits." In this case, the Sony program hid the antipiracy software from view. Similar technology also has been used by virus and worm writers to conceal their code.
The copy protection technology, which limits how many times a CD can be copied, was included on about 20 titles, including discs from The Bad Plus and Vivian Green, among others. Gilliat-Smith and Sony BMG spokesman John McKay said the technology had been on the market for about eight months and there had been no major complaints prior to Russinovich's blog post. Still, a newer, similar technology was in the process of rolling out before the latest controversy erupted.
The patches that reveal the hidden files are being made available to antivirus companies as well as customers who visit the Sony BMG site. They do not remove the copy protection software, however. McKay said customers can request a program to safely uninstall everything by visiting the Sony BMG Web site at http://cp.sonybmg.com/. That site, however, requires a form to be filled out and submitted.
Users can download the anti-cloaking patch at this location.
The controversy started Monday after Windows expert Mark Russinovich posted a Web log report on how he found hidden files on his PC after playing a Van Zant CD. He also said it disabled his CD drive after he tried to manually remove it. Russinovich made the discovery while running a program he had written for uncovering file-cloaking "RootKits." In this case, the Sony program hid the antipiracy software from view. Similar technology also has been used by virus and worm writers to conceal their code.
The copy protection technology, which limits how many times a CD can be copied, was included on about 20 titles, including discs from The Bad Plus and Vivian Green, among others. Gilliat-Smith and Sony BMG spokesman John McKay said the technology had been on the market for about eight months and there had been no major complaints prior to Russinovich's blog post. Still, a newer, similar technology was in the process of rolling out before the latest controversy erupted.
The patches that reveal the hidden files are being made available to antivirus companies as well as customers who visit the Sony BMG site. They do not remove the copy protection software, however. McKay said customers can request a program to safely uninstall everything by visiting the Sony BMG Web site at http://cp.sonybmg.com/. That site, however, requires a form to be filled out and submitted.
Users can download the anti-cloaking patch at this location.
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