Sony ordered to pay compensation after root kit screws customers

Adam Turner
Wednesday, 31 January 2007 16:34

Your IT - Home IT

Music label Sony BMG has been ordered to pay up to $US150 compensation for damage to computers caused by anti-piracy software it hid on music CDs.

Affected music lovers in the US have until the middle of the year to return CDs purchased before December 31, 2006. The Federal Trade Commission has ordered Sony to replace the CDs as well as compensate buyers for damage caused by attempts to remove Sony's software from their computer.

Sony used software known as a root kit to cloak applications on users computers. The package automatically installed when CDs were played on Windows computers, spying on users and restricted how they used music they had purchased. By installing a root kit on users computers, Sony created an area for hackers to hide their own malicious applications.

The proposed FTC settlement requires clear and prominent disclosure on the packaging of Sony BMG’s future CDs of any limits on copying or restrictions on the use of playback devices. It also bars it from using collected information for marketing, prohibits it from installing software without consumer consent and requires it to provide a reasonable means of uninstalling that software.