Stepping away from our "All Sig Ep - All the Time" format for just a minute, there is a computer related issue that anyone who plays CDs on their PC should be aware of.
SONY/BMG has incorporated a copy protection scheme on some of its CDs that installs a nasty piece of software on your PC.
The Sony software, found on several of the company's recent albums, is triggered by playing one of the CDs in a PC. From the CD drive, the software installs itself deeply inside a hard drive and hides itself from view. This cloaking technique could be used by virus writers to hide their own malicious software, security experts have said.
What albums? SONY isn't saying but that hasn't stopped the netizens at the EFF from figuring it out...
New York Times Columnist David Pogue had this to say
My take? Audio CD’s that install software onto your PC are just creepy. I believe that distributing copies of a CD to the Internet at large is wrong, so I understand the record companies’ concern. But installing secret, self-masking code onto customers’ computers seems just as wrong.
It’s an “any means necessary” approach to the problem, like dealing drugs to raise money for charity.
Personally, I can’t understand why any music fan would buy one of these discs. If you really want a song from Sony BMG, why not just buy it from one of the online music stores and avoid the whole issue? Sony BMG would soon get the message that customers don’t like being treated like criminals.
You have been warned. Appropriate responses toward a company that would do that are encouraged.
We now return to our regular fare.
