About ten years ago there was a big story about Sony Audio CD’s installing malicious software that permanently altered Windows. It did something to prevent copying music off the cd. The stories I heard was it took reinstalling Windows to repair the damage. Everyone was told to hold the shift key down anytime they loaded a Sony Audio CD.
I definitely recall news articles where Sony admitted to their tactics.
Last night I was tired and forgot to hold the shift key down while loading a new jazz cd I bought. Scared the crap out of me. The CD was a Japanese import and I think it was a Sony. I don’t read Japanese and don’t know for sure.
What’s the straight Dope behind the Sony Malware? Were there lawsuits? Outcomes? Was Sony criminally charged? Were any class action lawsuits litigated?
What was Microsoft’s position on this? Microsoft Win Media Player can copy audio frm the cd. That feature has been in media player at least twelve years.
What date ranges of Sony Audio CD’s do you have to fear?
Does current programs like Norton or McAffe protect against the Sony Malware? Or do we have to spend the rest of our lives holding down the shift key when we load a Sony Audio CD into a Windows PC?
Sony only put that rootkit on about 50-some titles, all of which were released in 2005, and all of which were supposed to be recalled. Here’s the list of CDs. If you don’t have these CDs, you have nothing to worry about. Even if you do have those CDs, they probably are the new version without copy protection, unless it fits the description here. So basically, don’t worry about it. Holding down the shift key won’t help anyway.
:eek: :eek: The shift key trick doesn’t protect you? It’s supposed to keep Windows from auto loading. If you do it at Win startup, items in your start up folder don’t load. I always hold down the shift key when plugging in an external usb drive.
Has that functionality gone away in newer versions of Windows?
You can disable the Autorun functionality so you don’t have to hold the shift key down when you insert a CD or USB drive. See: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/967715
For a highly technical description of this topic, from the one who brought it to everyone’s attention, read this blog entry and subsequent entries on that site. My take: Sony messed with the wrong guy!
Not true. One of the CDs on that list I own (the Switchfoot one from 2005), and it only says Sony BMG in very small print. The Columbia/CMV (CMV as it is a dual sided disc) logo is far more prominent. That disc screwed my computer up when I first used it, and doesn’t even play in some of my players (I always assumed it was because of the DVD/CD hybrid, not due to malware).
