BBC NEWS
Sony BMG repents over CD debacle
By Mark Ward
Technology correspondent, BBC News website
Sony BMG is rethinking its anti-piracy policy following weeks of criticism
over the
copy protection used on CDs.
The head of Sony BMG's global digital business, Thomas Hesse, told the BBC
that the
company was "re-evaluating" its current methods.
It follows widespread condemnation of the way anti-piracy software on some
Sony CDs
installs itself on computers.
The admission came as Sony faced more censure over the security failings of
one of
its copy protection programs.
Bad publicity
The row began in November when software developer Mark Russinovich
discovered that
Sony BMG's XCP anti-piracy programs used virus-like techniques to hide
itself on
a PC.
This whole story has led us to look at the approach we have to take going
forward
Thomas Hesse, Sony BMG
The row ended with Sony recalling all the CDs that use XCP and offering to
swap customers'
existing discs for ones that do not use the much-criticised software.
Speaking to the BBC News website, Thomas Hesse, president of Sony BMG's
global digital
business, said all the bad publicity had made it think hard about its
approach to
stopping people making illegal copies.
"The key point to remember is that copyright infringement is a huge issue
for the
recording industry as a whole and that's where we came from originally," he
said.
"But this whole story has led us to look at the approach we have to take
going forward,"
Mr Hesse said.
The furore about the XCP software had lead Sony BMG to "diligently
re-evaluate" how
it protects music on CDs.
He said it was too early to say where Sony was in the evaluation process or
what
might result, but he said the company was taking the re-examination very
seriously.
Patch problems
Sony came in for more criticism this week over SunComm's MediaMax
anti-piracy program
used on 32 CDs released in the US and Canada.
The problem with the MediaMax software was revealed in a joint statement
Sony BMG
issued with digital rights group the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
In that statement Sony urged users to install a patch that closed the
security loophole
that MediaMax opened on PCs.
However, the discovery by independent security researchers that this patch
suffered
the same security problems as the original program led the EFF to withdraw
its support.
The loophole introduced by MediaMax and the patch could have let malicious
hackers
hijack the programs to gain control of a PC. The new program issued by Sony
BMG on
8 December closes the hole in the patch.
"It's a fairly common issue often found in PC games," said Robert Horton, a
security
expert from NGS Software brought in by Sony to vet its latest patch.
"Its fairly common and the fix is easy to provide through a software
update."
He said it was unlikely that any attacker would have been able to exploit
the bugs
in MediaMax and its patch.
"Even if the issue is only a slight one, at Sony BMG we are very clear that
any software
security issues are taken with the utmost seriousness," said Mr Hesse.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/technology/4514678.stm
Published: 2005/12/09 16:59:28 GMT
© BBC MMV


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