Sony BMG CDs and XCP

The unfolding story of the Sony BMG copy-protection / rootkit issue is like a rollercoaster ride.

Found out that Sony BMG Philippines products are free of XCP software.

In case you do pop a CD into your computer's CD-drive and you see some kind of EULA or User Agreement on your screen, read it carefully or don't agree to the terms. There's a distinct possibility something will be installed in your computer. Afterall, when you used to insert your music CDs in your PCs before, you didn't see any strange EULA pop-up on your screens, right?

But what happens when you click "No", but the software is installed in your hard disk just the same?

In BoingBoing's Sony CD spyware installs and can run permanently, even if you click "Decline", you'll read about yet another copy-protection software that Sony BMG uses. It's called MediaMax and if you decline the EULA more than once, whether it happened when you inserted more than one MediaMax-infected music CD or the same CD twice, "the software can activate itself permanently."

I don't know about you, but I'll insert Sony BMG CDs only in regular CD players, not in my computer. ;-)

[ First posted on 11/30/2005 by Manuel Viloria ]