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Class Action Lawsuit On The Way For Sony's Rootkit
from the but,-there-are-other-issues-too dept
Probably not a huge surprise at all, but following Sony's rootkit fiasco, lawyers are already swarming and a class action lawsuit is expected any day now. It's unclear if they'll be going after other record labels that use identical technology. The article notes that there are legal problems on both sides of the equation. While Sony probably runs afoul of a bunch of laws (the same ones used to go after adware firms), users who are uninstalling the rootkit may be breaking the DMCA, which prevent circumvention of any type of copy protection. In other words, the whole thing is a big mess, and, as in other class action lawsuits, the only ones who will really benefit are the lawyers. Update: Aha. The lawsuits are already starting.
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No Subject Given
Yes! Italy rules!!!!
http://www.alcei.org/index.php/archives/105
The first lawsuit comes from ALCEI, the Italian chapter of EFF. It is not a lawsuit, in that it does not ask for a sentence.
Rather, it is an official complaint to the Guardia di Finanza (Italian fiscal police force, the competent police for fraud complaints) about Sonu's behavior (regarding the CD “Get right with the man” by Van Zant), objecting to Sony's attitude of taking the law in their own hand ("si fa arbitrariamente ragione da sé medesimo") by "altering, modifying or deleting a software program", or by "preventing or disturbing the working of a computer system".
ALCEI is asking for formal investigation, asking the Guardia di Finanza to identify whose is the actual author of such DRM system, who decided on its specific working mechanism, who decided on its diffusion mechanism, whether it is also available and present in products on sales in Italy, whether other companies are using such mechanism, whether any offence has been committed in Italy or by individuals operating in Italy.
Just one guy (proud, once in a while, of being Italian)
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Translated link from Just one guy
abuse of DRM from part of Sony BMG Music Entertainment
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users who are uninstalling the rootkit may be brea
"users who are uninstalling the rootkit may be breaking the DMCA"
What came first, the chicken or the egg? I believe that in this scenario, most everyone knows the answer to this age-old question.
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Re: users who are uninstalling the rootkit may be
"users who are uninstalling the rootkit may be breaking the DMCA"
That boils my blood. IP has gotten so absolutely crazy as to render common sence insignificant. If Sont installs malware on a system unbeknownst to the operator, that's a crime.
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Re: users who are uninstalling the rootkit may be
Somebody needs to write a worm that'll exploit the rootkit and DESTROY people's PCs. None of this benign worm shit, people need to realize the implications of this. A few thousand people losing their hard drives will send that message.
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Pirates are Safe
"With any luck, and I can't believe I am saying this, an ambulance chasing scumbag lawyer will take this up and sue Sony into the ground for stupidity on this level. There has to be some letter of the law that was violated as arrogantly as purchaser's rights are ... If there was ever a good argument for piracy, to me, this is it." - The Inquirer
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No Subject Given
It's true that the only people that really profit from class action suits are the lawyers. Each individual will get a negligible amount.
But that's not the point. What matters is not who profits from the suit, but who pays. The point is to penalize Sony to the degree that they don't do this anymore. It needs to be demonstrated that this sort of malicious DRM isn't profitable. A large financial judgement against Sony might help, and serve as an example for others.
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SonySuit.com tracks Sony XCP Class Action Lawsuits
SonySuit.com has information about the class action lawsuits that have been filed, as well as information on how individuals who don't wish to wait on a class action can sue Sony in their local Small Claims Court.
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