Sony BMG settles CD root-kit class-action suits

[Bob Crabtree]

The Electronic Freedom Foundation reports that a judge has granted final approval for a settlement in the Sony BMG CD root-kit class-action law suits. The agreement means that purchasers of affected CDs can have them replaced and also receive a small compensatory sum (US$7.50) and download three further CDs.

As well as compensating consumers, Sony BMG has to stop making CDs that use the First4Internet XCP and SunnComm MediaMax software, stop using several restrictive end-user license agreements (EULAs) and carry out a detailed security review before adding digital-right management tools to CDs in future.

Get the full low-down in this HEXUS.headline and tell us your thoughts on Sony BMG, root-kit nasties and DRM.

[directhex]

i am SO pissed with the EFF over this

sony's punishment for installing rootkits on millions of PCs? those who *know* about it, get 10p's worth of new disc, and some (essentially free) DRM'd downloads

1) rootkits are, by design, not detectable. people simply won't KNOW about this, and won't get *anything*

2) the tiny minority who are aware and claim, are costing sony almost nothing. seriously, if the entire cost of the settlement disappeared from the petty cash jar, nobody would notice.

at the same time, sony and the other record labels are claiming that a pirated music track costs them $150,000. that's per track.

if some kid in his bedroom had infected millions of PCs with malicious software and gotten caught, they'd not only have bankrupted themselves, their families, and their close friends - but they;d be in the big house, taking human booster shots from scary men named "jim".

under *no* circumstances should the EFF have settled on this. anything less than the going rate for complete scrubdown & clean of an infected PC, with the onus on sony to track down each and every infected machine - and a complete legislative ban on implementing DRM again - amount to nothing more than a small slap on the wrist.

[TheAnimus]

I remeber trying to explain to someone on the internet when a virus is a virus is a worm is a .....

and trying to explain that all code has potential to be malicous or nasty.

So, for pottential libal reasons, i will just simply refer too the rootkit as a potential for been malicous.

This rootkit hid itself, it casued security blackholes to virus scanners and misslead users too, its just plain wrong in every way.

How come sony dont even get fined for this? I bet you the lawyers for the class action group got more in "fees" than the $7.50 x people who complained.

[Bob Crabtree]

directhex,

Have your read the PDF?

The named plaintiff's should be getting up to $1,000 each.

I didn't mention this in the article cos the wording in the PDF document (p36 - ATTORNEYS’ FEES, COSTS AND INCENTIVE PAYMENTS TO NAMED PLAINTIFFS) is kind of will-they/won't-they - but every time I re-read the document, I become more convinced that they will get some cash.

What I don't know, though, is whether that means only the 13 plaintiffs named on page 1 are going to get a payout.

[alterion]

no every US citizen who bought one of these CD's is entitled I belive (but there were sevral lawsuits so it might not be the case) if they know about it. Unfortunately they were never prosecuted in the UK where they could have faced jail sentances

[hkBst]

directhex, I so agree with you.

[directhex]

What I don't know, though, is whether that means only the 13 plaintiffs named on page 1 are going to get a payout.

as far as i can tell, it does.

so add $13k onto my "pocket change" estimate. that's about £7k, or roughly 26 seconds of advertising on ITV1 during Trisha. is that really punishment for a company this large, doing this much damage to this many machines?

[Paranoid2000]

Unfortunately they were never prosecuted in the UK where they could have faced jail sentances

An individual, certainly - but companies seem to be bound by different rules. Certainly I would hope to see some action taken against Sony but doubtless the NHTCU (now SOCA) have bigger concerns on their plate...