Did Sony 'rootkit' pluck from open source?

By Reuters
Published: November 18, 2005 5:17 AM PST

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November 13, 2005

Copy-protection code appears to have tapped an open-source project, raising questions about copyright, software experts say.

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Music companies are hipocrites!
by Mad Dog - Chi November 18, 2005 5:53 AM PST: So, the music companies cry foul when someone violates their copyrights, but have no moral qualms about themselves violating the copyrights of others!; Reply to this comment View reply
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It keeps getting better and better
by thedreaming November 18, 2005 6:08 AM PST: I love it! A multi-billion dollar corporation got caught with their hands down the pants of their customers. People hate viruses, worms, trojans, spyware, adware, malware and security exploits and what does sony do? Make a copy protection scheme that acts like a virus, burries itself like a worm, delivers a payload like a trojan and leaves your computer open to act, not only while it's running, but after it's removed too! Remind me again why we should buy our music and not just download it?; Reply to this comment View reply
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This is starting to sound as though...
by Hobo453567 November 18, 2005 6:35 AM PST: This is starting to sound as though Sony simply didn't do any of their own testing for this product. Remember, if this was ripped off from open source, it was the company that made the thing that did it. It seems like everyone is immediately blaming Sony for everything. They are at fault for not doing their own testing and using the stupid thing, but please actually read the articles so that you know that not everything is their fault.; Reply to this comment View all 3 replies
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LAME is NOT an MP3 player!
by aemarques November 18, 2005 7:24 AM PST: Contrary to this (flawed) Reuters report, LAME is NOT an MP3 player. It is an MP3 encoder. Not the same. Not even close...; Reply to this comment View reply
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Not Much Incentive...
by RoseBlood74 November 18, 2005 7:26 AM PST: ...To buy music instead of downloading it from P2P networks. Sony has embarrassed itself and its music artists, and I'm sure, now more than ever, that I will never, ever buy another CD. Sony crossed the line when it packaged this invasive software with our music, and it will take a long time to earn my respect and my business back.; Reply to this comment View reply
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Hoist by Their Own Petard!
by markdoiron November 18, 2005 7:40 AM PST: i love it! how can this possibly get any worse for sony? sure, one can make the case that if this is in fact open source lame code sony was only a distant purchaser/reseller of it. but, there's been a lot of fuss in the linux community over supposedly stolen code and in some cases indeminity statements are being made by software resellers, and lawsuits have been filed against corporate end users. gee--i wonder if anyone will want to sue the purchasers of those cd's? they're really caught in a catch 22--purchased what may have been stolen code, and now if they take action to remove it they're in violation of the dmca! mark d.; Reply to this comment View reply
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Violating Copyrights to Protect Copyrights !?
by AronMalkine November 18, 2005 7:49 AM PST: So Sony only respects their own artists' copyrights? What about the work of the LAME project coders? Aren't they artists as well who deserve the protection copyright affords? Sony needs to admit that enforcing copyrights starts at home.; Reply to this comment View all 2 replies
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Time to cut out the middle man
by Mad Dog - Chi November 18, 2005 10:28 AM PST: Now that artists can burn their own CD's and market them on the web, and even allow 99 cent downloads, what do the need the music conglomerates for anymore? Right now, publicity is one thing they supply for the (selected) artists. But, as people move more and more to the web and web based music reviews, this advantage will dwindle in importance. Time to cut the music conglometates out of the picture!; Reply to this comment View all 2 replies
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IVE Internet Phone Software Doesn't Work Either
by Stating November 18, 2005 10:33 AM PST: I wasted 2 hours yesterday trying to get Sony's new IVE video software (as reported by CNET) to work, only to give up in frustration. Yes, I did disable my firewall to test. The software installed and connected to their server, and I saw a video feed from my webcam, but I was unable to make any menu selections at all. The program was non-responsive to any menu selections. What is it with Sony these days, is Howard Stringer asleep at the switch? To CNET: Did anyone on your staff try out IVE? Did it work properly on Windows XP SP2? http://news.com.com/Sony+launches+free+Internet+phone+service/2100-7352_3-5957132.html; Reply to this comment

This has absolutly nothing to do with the story.
by System Tyrant November 18, 2005 10:39 AM PST: I just noticed that news.com must be having trouble with their site. The most discussed stories are ones with 1 or 2 comments. This story doesn't even register on the most discussed section.; Reply to this comment View reply
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