Offmessage

…on the Sony rootkit saga. This time from Bruce Schneier over at Wired. He asks us to consider the real story: How come our AV software didn’t pick this up in the first place?

Who are the security companies really working for? It’s unlikely that this Sony rootkit is the only example of a media company using this technology. Which security company has engineers looking for the others who might be doing it? And what will they do if they find one? What will they do the next time some multinational company decides that owning your computers is a good idea?

God it’s cold. Provide a little assistance to the birds in your garden – it’ll brighten up your and their lives. Today’s offmessage public service announcement.

I’ll stop posting about the Sony thing soon, really I will. But this latest little episode throws the whole thing into yet sharper focus… first4internet (makers of the XCP software used by Sony) have infringed the LGPL by using DVD Jon’s code without correct attribution. So. There’s one kind of copyright for you, and another for us? Is that how it works?

Oh. And then of course there’s this one too….

Sony DRM uninstaller ‘worse than rootkit’

Sony recalls copy-protected CDs

Oh dear – it goes from bad to worse…

Sony’s controversial anti-piracy CD software has been labelled as spyware by Microsoft.

For years I’ve wondered who that bloke on the Woodstock DVD was… Turns out it’s Wavy Gravy (or Hugh Romney, if you prefer). Sir, I salute you!

It’s not big and it’s not clever, but it is rather cool. It’s the execution that makes it.
Found at plasticbag

Although one of my English teachers was done for selling 6th formers pot…

The mother of a schoolgirl was left “gobsmacked” that police left a bag of speed in her daughter’s schoolbag.

Virus writers are exploiting Sony’s controversial anti-piracy software to hide their malicious creations.

Oh dear. This is rapidly turning into a PR nightmare. I can’t say I have any sympathy… Quick update on EMI as well… In my first post on the topic I said EMI used the same technology. I stand corrected having spoken to my friend there; they trialed it, but chose another solution.

How to find a lost object