Sony Fixes DRM Issues … Sort Of

By Michael Santo
Contributing Writer, RealTechNews

Last night RealTechNews posted an item about Sony’s … perhaps overzealous … DRM on their music CDs. Today Sony has announced that they are currently working with the technology partner who provides the copy protection to eliminate the concerns of antivirus companies and technology experts.

Earlier in the week, security experts said that anticopying technology used by Sony BMG could be adapted by virus writers to hide malicious software on the hard drives of computers that have played one of the CDs. The antipiracy tool is included on many of Sony BMG’s latest music releases, from Van Zant to My Morning Jacket.

Sony BMG’s technology partner First 4 Internet, a British company, said Wednesday that it has released a patch to antivirus companies that will eliminate the copy-protection software’s ability to hide. In consequence, it will also prevent virus writers from cloaking their work using the copy-protection tools. Source: News.com

This addresses the concern of antivirus companies in that the copy protection software will no longer have rootkit features, and the files will now be viewable.

Additional info from the same News.com article:

The patch that First 4 Internet is providing to antivirus companies will eliminate the rootkit’s ability to hide itself and the copy-protection software in a computer’s recesses. The patch will be automatically distributed to people who use tools such as Norton Antivirus and other similar programs, Gilliat-Smith said.

The patch that will be distributed through Sony BMG’s Web site will work the same way, Gilliat-Smith said. In both cases, the antipiracy software itself will not be removed, only exposed to view.

Consumers who want to remove the copy-protection software altogether from their machine can contact the company’s customer support service for instructions, a Sony BMG representative said.

We say: This does indeed address the rootkit concern. However, there are still troubling issues. First, are all antivirus vendors provided this with patch or only the major ones? I personally use a highly regarded antivirus program, but it’s not one of the “big names”. Also, the installation of these copy protection files were not listed in the EULA. I am very careful about what gets on my computer and I am concerned when files are installed without my knowledge. I am used to looking for specific, particularly invasive copy protection schemes on games and programs … and I refuse to buy such software … it now appears I will have to do the same with music CDs. I do not believe this issue is closed yet.