Digital Home Thoughts: Draconian Sony DRM Puts Customer's Computers at Risk

"Sony BMG Music Entertainment and a technology partner are working with antivirus companies on a fix for a potential security problem in some copy-protected CDs. 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."

This is insane. What I find most offensives about this, and it applies to those asinine "don't steal movies" commercials that play before movies in the theatres, is that Sony is punishing the people who are buying the CD. Read that again and really think about what it means: the people who are buying the CDs are supporting the artist and the music label, and they're the ones being put through the hassle of having to deal with the frustration this DRM causes.

I wish I had the time to write an email to every band who's CD I didn't buy because of it being "enhanced" with copy protection. It would be great it there was a group that would organize something like this - they'd have a Web site with a database of artists and their management, and you could send an email or print out a form letter with the right contact information. I think the artists, the ones creating the music, need to start pushing back at the labels if they care about their fans.