My thoughts on the Sony BMG fiasco
Well, as every music lover knows, Sony BMG has been deploying rootkits onto the systems of millions of hapless people. This has incited lawsuits and bad PR against the coporate giant, and I have to say that I back that all the way. I understand that copying CDs and giving the music to people who have no intention whatsoever of buying it is wrong. However, to go to such egregious lengths and harm millions of paying customers is just as wrong, if not more so. It is hard to maintain the appearance of moral superiority when you are taking insiduous actions against your own customers.
Unsurprisingly, customers found this unacceptable and the CDs are being recalled. They're DRM-supported stupidity has backfired on them. This is a real win for the consumer and proof that corporations cannot be trusted with your property. You paid for your computer; you may have, like I, even assembled your computer; it's yours. You should feel it is right for a company to secretly install software that cripples your ability to use your own property (epsecially when the software has exploitable security holes as F-Secure found in Sony's software). Sure, they have interests to protect, but there's a line, and when they attempt to control your property and use coercive means to inhibit your ability to use your property, they have crossed that line.
It has not just hurt consumers but artists as well. They have taken a good amount of consumer wrath as well, not to mention a decrease in income. I wonder if an artist will ever sue Sony BMG. I know if I were one of them, I would.
I have not bought any of the said CDs, but I know people who have an promptly sent them the warning when I learned of it. Because of this fiasco, I do not indend to buy any CDs from Sony BGM. They have shown themselves to be untrustworthy and all-to-ready to use deceitful tactices at the consumer's expense. Now, thankfully, they are facing the music.
For more info on this:
http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/nov2005/tc20051122_343542.htm?campaign_id=rss_tech
http://www.macworld.co.uk/news/index.cfm?NewsID=13254&Page=1&pagePos=1
http://www.smarthouse.com.au/Computing/Software/?article=/Computing/Software/News/N3L3W6C2
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/11/30/sony_drm_spitzer/
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/11/21/2245207&from=rss
Unsurprisingly, customers found this unacceptable and the CDs are being recalled. They're DRM-supported stupidity has backfired on them. This is a real win for the consumer and proof that corporations cannot be trusted with your property. You paid for your computer; you may have, like I, even assembled your computer; it's yours. You should feel it is right for a company to secretly install software that cripples your ability to use your own property (epsecially when the software has exploitable security holes as F-Secure found in Sony's software). Sure, they have interests to protect, but there's a line, and when they attempt to control your property and use coercive means to inhibit your ability to use your property, they have crossed that line.
It has not just hurt consumers but artists as well. They have taken a good amount of consumer wrath as well, not to mention a decrease in income. I wonder if an artist will ever sue Sony BMG. I know if I were one of them, I would.
I have not bought any of the said CDs, but I know people who have an promptly sent them the warning when I learned of it. Because of this fiasco, I do not indend to buy any CDs from Sony BGM. They have shown themselves to be untrustworthy and all-to-ready to use deceitful tactices at the consumer's expense. Now, thankfully, they are facing the music.
For more info on this:
http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/nov2005/tc20051122_343542.htm?campaign_id=rss_tech
http://www.macworld.co.uk/news/index.cfm?NewsID=13254&Page=1&pagePos=1
http://www.smarthouse.com.au/Computing/Software/?article=/Computing/Software/News/N3L3W6C2
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/11/30/sony_drm_spitzer/
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/11/21/2245207&from=rss