[Full-disclosure] Newsflash: Sony to stop making protected CDs

["Fergie" <fergdawg@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Via SecurityFocus.

[snip]

Beleaguered Sony BMG will temporarily suspend the manufacture of copy-protected 
CDs and re-examine its digital-rights management strategy, the media giant said 
on Friday.

The company has been widely criticized by consumers, security experts and 
digital-rights advocates for the surreptitious copy-protection programs that 
Sony BMG CDs install on consumers' computers. Digital-rights advocates and 
consumer attorneys are preparing nearly a half dozen legal actions against the 
music giant.

While the company is re-evaluating its inclusion of the Extended Copy 
Protection (XCP) technology produced by U.K.-based First 4 Internet, the 
company stood by its right to protect its music.

Here is the full statement:

We are aware that a computer virus is circulating that may affect computers 
with XCP content protection software. The XCP software is included on a limited 
number of SONY BMG content protected titles. This potential problem has no 
effect on the use of these discs in conventional, non-computer-based, CD and 
DVD players.

In response to these events, SONY BMG has swiftly provided a patch to all major 
anti-virus companies and to the general public that guards against precisely 
the type of virus now said to exist. The patch fixes the possible software 
problem, and still allows CDs to be played on personal computers. It can be 
downloaded at http://cp.sonybmg.com/xcp/. Starting today, we will also be 
adding this link to the SONY BMG label and corporate sites. We deeply regret 
any possible inconvenience this may cause.

We stand by content protection technology as an important tool to protect our 
intellectual property rights and those of our artists. Nonetheless, as a 
precautionary measure, SONY BMG is temporarily suspending the manufacture of 
CDs containing XCP technology. We also intend to re-examine all aspects of our 
content protection initiative to be sure that it continues to meet our goals of 
security and ease of consumer use. More information about our content 
protection initiative can also be found at: http://cp.sonybmg.com/xcp. 

[snip]

http://www.securityfocus.com/brief/45

- ferg


--
"Fergie", a.k.a. Paul Ferguson
 Engineering Architecture for the Internet
 fergdawg@xxxxxxxxxxx or fergdawg@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
 ferg's tech blog: http://fergdawg.blogspot.com/

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