Boycott Sony
The recent Sony rootkit scandal takes all that’s wrong with our “brave, new world” of networked computing: spam, viruses, spyware, malware, sloppyware (=Windows) and adds a major technology and entertainment corporation’s bad attitude about consumer’s rights.
Earlier this year, Sony sold music CDs with copyright protection software that installs a rootkit on Windows machines, making these machines vulnerable to hackers and trojan attacks. Apparently, this software also calls home – to the Sony offices in Cary, NC.
Sony is apologetic and working hard to fix what they broke, right? Hell no! They have a smart-ass attitude about this. Here is what the president of Sony BMG’s global digital business division Thomas Hesse has to say:
“Most people, I think, don’t even know what a rootkit is, so why should they care about it?”
Sony executive Thomas Hesse on NPR’s Morning Edition, November 4, 2005
Well, fuck you too, Mr. Hesse! Let’s boycott Sony this season.
[UPDATE: EFF shows that the EULA is just as bad as the software. For example, if your house gets burgled, or if you declare bankruptcy, you have to delete all your music. Oh and I forgot to mention that the EFF also reports that the rootkit “uninstaller” from Sony creates yet new security holes. WOW! And these guys don’t even work for the Bush administration!]