Music Is My Weapon

If you have recently bought a CD from Sony, and put it on your computer, you may have been victem to the biggest hack of the year. In what put the music industry back ten years in the copy protection battle, Sony released dozens of CD's that had a "rootkit" that took control of the root levels of your computer. To this end, it did in fact prevent MP3 distribution, but Sony had control of your entire computer. Check the list at the end of this article as reference, and see if you have in your possesion, one of these CD's.

The Associated Press describes how backlash from Sony's Rootkit CDs is causing problems for the music industry. The problem is two-fold: (1) the inherent technological problem of trying to prevent anyone from copying anything and (2) letting lawyers make technical decisions when (from the article) 'Lawyers don't have any better understanding of technology than a cow does algebra.'" More from the article: "'I think they've set back audio CD protection by years,' said Richard M. Smith, an Internet privacy and security consultant. 'Nobody will want to pull a Sony now.' Phil Leigh, analyst for Inside Digital Media, said the debacle shows just how reluctant the labels are to change their business model to reflect the distribution powers -- good and bad -- of the Internet. He believes that rather than adopting technological methods to try to stop unauthorized copying of music, record companies need to do more to remove the incentive for piracy.

But there are those in favor of this copy-protection. In a press conference held on Nov 18 Cary Sherman, the president of the RIAA, stated in reference to Sony BMG's "rootkit" software that "there is nothing unusual about technology being used to protect intellectual property." According to Sherman, the problem with Sony BMG's XCP DRM software was simply that "the technology they used contained a security vulnerability of which they were unaware". He goes on to praise Sony's "responsible" attitude in handling the problem, saying "how many times that software applications created the same problem? Lots. I wonder whether they've taken as aggressive steps as SonyBMG has when those vulnerabilities were discovered, or did they just post a patch on the Internet?" It seems that the latest spin is to portray the Sony rootkit as no more of an issue than a software coding error that unintentionally creates a security hole. This probably implies they will get away with it among the non-technical public.

Here is a list of Sony CDs include XCP digital rights management (DRM) software. Due to security concerns raised about the use of CDs containing this software on PCs, Sony has asked Amazon.com to remove all unsold CDs with XCP software from their store. If you have purchased any of these CDs from Amazon.com, you may return them for a full refund regardless of whether the CDs are opened or unopened, following our normal returns process. Simply indicate that the CD is "defective" as the reason for return.

Neil Diamond,'12 Songs'
Bette Midler, 'Sings the Peggy Lee Songbook'
Ray Charles, 'Friendship'
Cyndi Lauper, 'The Body Acoustic'
Jane Monheit, 'The Season'
Trey Anastasio, 'Shine'
Our Lady Peace, 'Healthy In Paranoid Times'
Patty Loveless, 'Dreamin' My Dreams'
Art Blakey, 'Drum Suite'
Neil Diamond, '12 Songs: Digi-Pak with Bonus Tracks'
Burt Bacharach, 'At This Time'
Celine Dion, 'On Ne Change Pas'
Chayanne, 'Cautivo'
Chris Botti, 'To Love Again'
Deniece Williams, 'This Is Niecy'
Earl Scruggs, 'I Saw the Light With Some Help from My Friends'
George Jones, 'My Very Special Guests'
Gerry Mulligan, 'Jeru'
Horace Silver, 'Silver's Blue'
Jon Randall, 'Walking Among The Living'
Lester Flatt & Earl Scruggs, 'Foggy Mountain Jamboree'
Nivea, 'Complicated'
Pete Seeger, 'The Essential Pete Seeger'
Roseanne Cash, 'King's Record Shop'
Roseanne Cash, 'Interiors'
Roseanne Cash, 'Seven Year Ache'
Shel Silverstein, 'The Best of Shel Silverstein: His Words His Songs His Friends'
Shelly Fairchild, 'Ride'
Susie Suh, 'Susie Suh'
Switchfoot, 'Nothing Is Sound'
Teena Marie, 'Robbery'
The Bad Plus, 'Suspicious Activity'
The Coral, 'The Invisible Invasion'
The Dead 60s, 'The Dead 60s'
Van Zant, 'Get Right with the Man'
Vivian Green, 'Vivian'
A Static Lullaby, 'Faso Latido'
Acceptance, 'Phantoms'
Amerie, 'Touch'
Bob Brookmeyer, 'Bob Brookmeyer & Friends'
Buddy Jewell, 'Times Like These'
Dexter Gordon, 'Manhattan Symphonie'
Dion, 'The Essential Dion'
Elkland, 'Golden'
Emma Roberts, 'Unfabulous And More: Emma Roberts'
G3, 'Live In Tokyo'
Life of Agony, 'Broken Valley'
Mary Mary, 'Mary Mary'
Mary Mary, 'Mary Mary'
Montgomery Gentry, 'Something To Be Proud Of: The Best of 1999-2005'
Natasha Bedingfield, 'Unwritten'