Sony Facing Not-so-Secretive Legal Action

[misteroriginal]

Maybe Sony is jealous of iTunes.

http://www.engadget.com/entry/1234000123047528/

[misteroriginal]

More from Forbes...
http://www.forbes.com/technology/2005/06...artner=rss

[mandy]

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott filed a civil lawsuit on Monday against Sony BMG Music Entertainment  for hiding "spyware" software on its compact discs in a bid to thwart music copying.

According to the lawsuit filed in Travis County, several of the company's music compact discs require customers to download Sony's media players if they want to listen to the CDs on a computer.

Software included with that media player "remains hidden and active" after installation, the Attorney General's office said, and makes users vulnerable to security risks and possible identity theft.

full article: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20051121/tc_nm/sony_texas_dc

In a related development, the RIAA President is condoning Sony's actions which have included spyware manufacturing and alleged copyright violations of LGPL software:

Seems very responsible to me.

full article: http://www.malbela.com/blog/archives/000375.html

related topic: Who has the right to control your PC?  http://community.tuliptools.com/index.ph...366.0.html

[mandy]

Along with lawyers, prosecutors, and furious fans, artists are joining the backlash against the label for slipping a hidden, anti-theft program into users' computers

The wrath of fans killed Sony's CD copy controls, with the company pulling 52 titles off retail shelves, beginning the week of Nov. 14. But the wrath of bands could be far worse for the company -- and for efforts to protect content in general...

full article: http://www.businessweek.com/technology/c...d=rss_tech

[regic]

Sony BMG has done a marvellous job of dealing with fallout from secretly installing spyware on consumers' machines - but now unfortunately it has attracted the attention of New York's Attorney General Eliot (the Blitzer) Spitzer.

Spitzer's office found that despite Sony's claim that it had recalled the affected products Sony's dodgy CDs were still available in various New York stores...

Spitzer has not ruled out further legal action against the music giant...

full article: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/11/30/...m_spitzer/

A Homeland Security Dept. official has weighed in, accusing Sony BMG of undermining computer security. And Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott has alleged, in a suit filed Nov. 21, that Sony BMG violated his state's antispyware laws. Now, the Sony BMG debacle has drawn the scrutiny of New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer.

BUYER, BEWARE.

full article: http://businessweek.com/technology/conte...573560.htm

[bargainbloodhound]

:popcorneaters:

[mandy]

Consumers who bought the rootkit-infected music would get free music downloads. A judge still has to approve the settlement before it's final; that decision is expected sometime in January. 

Lawyers working the class-action lawsuit against Sony BMG Music filed a proposed settlement with a federal court Wednesday that if approved, would force Sony to stop making copy-protected CDs, pay affected customers a small fee, and provide replacement discs and/or other albums.

full article: http://www.informationweek.com/news/show...=175701275

[jezebel]

The court hearing is next Friday  http://news.yahoo.com/s/nf/20051230/tc_nf/40558

Under terms of the agreement, which requires approval by a New York district court judge, Sony BMG will stop manufacturing CDs with the XCP and MediaMax DRM software rootkit, recall all XCP CDs, and provide software to remove the offending technology from consumers' computers.

In addition, people who purchased the CDs in question can exchange the products for "clean" CDs titles that do not contain the content-protection software. Two additional "incentive packages" are offered by the company as well. The first includes a cash payment of $7.50 and one album download from a list of some 200 titles. Or, parties in the class action can download three albums from that list.

[mandy]

The settlement in the class action suit filed against spyware rootkit maker Sony was given the Ok by the courts on May 22. A copy of the final settlement as OK'd by te courts:

http://www.eff.org/IP/DRM/Sony-BMG/sony_settlement.pdf

A U.S. federal judge on Monday gave final approval to a settlement in a class action suit against Sony BMG Music Entertainment over anticopying software the company had embedded in some music CDs...

At least 15 different lawsuits were filed by class action lawyers against the record label, and the New York cases were eventually consolidated into one proceeding. The parties reached a preliminary settlement with Sony BMG in December, leaving it up to a judge in a U.S. District Court in New York to make it official.

full article: http://www.zdnetasia.com/news/software/0...307,00.htm

[mandy]

Update: Sony has agreed to pay $1.5 million to settle lawsuits brought against it by Texas and California.

Sony BMG Music Entertainment has agreed to settle lawsuits brought by California and Texas over music CDs that installed a hidden anti-piracy program on consumers' computers. The company will pay $1.5 million and kick in thousands more in customer refunds. The settlements cover lawsuits over CDs loaded with one of two types of copy-protection software -- known as MediaMax or XCP...

Under the terms of the separate settlements, each state will receive $750,000 in civil penalties and costs.

In addition, Sony BMG agreed to reimburse consumers whose computers were damaged while trying to uninstall the XCP software. Customers in both states can file a claim with Sony BMG to receive refunds of up to $175.

State officials estimate some 450,000 compact discs carrying the XCP software were sold in California, while about 130,000 were sold in Texas...

full article: http://ecommercetimes.com/story/K4JEjgLJ...Suit.xhtml