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RIAA President Cary Sherman on Sony/BMG DRM-Spyware
Complete List of Sony/BMG Rootkit CDs
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Complete List of Sony/BMG Rootkit CDs
Congressman Westmoreland Explains Broadcast Flag
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Thursday, November 24, 2005
RIAA President Cary Sherman on Sony/BMG DRM-Spyware
RIAA President Cary Sherman during an online chat with college newspaper reporters:There is nothing unusual about technology being used to protect intellectual property. You can't simply make an extra copy of a Microsoft operating system, or virtually any other commercially-released software program for that matter. Same with videogames. Movies, too, are protected. Why should CDs be any different?Mr. Sherman, Microsoft doesn't give Windows away over the air, for free, to anyone who cares to listen. Microsoft doesn't infect customers' computers with software expressly designed to be invisible, undetectable, and non-removeable. Microsoft doesn't (yet) rampantly ignore the intellectual property rights of its customers in the drive to protect its own.
The problem with the SonyBMG situation is that the technology they used contained a security vulnerability of which they were unaware. They have apologized for their mistake, ceased manufacture of CDs with that technology,and pulled CDs with that technology from store shelves. Seems very responsible to me. How many times that software applications created the same problem? Lots. I wonder whether they've taken as aggressive steps as SonyBMG has when those vulnerabilities were discovered, or did they just post a patch on the Internet?
One other thing to point out: The music industry has been more permissive about copying of its copyrighted product than virtually any other industry. How many burns are you allowed of a movie? None. How many of a videogame? None. You get the idea. Even the CDs with content protection allow consumers to burn 3 copies or so for personal use. The idea is not to inhibit personal use, but to allow personal use but discourage (not prevent, you can never prevent) copying well beyond personal use.
That's what spyware companies do, and SonyBMG infected millions of computers with DRM-spyware. That you are either too stupid to grasp this, or too disengenuous to admit it, confirms again that you and your industry simply cannot be trusted to define personal use, or set the rules for any sort of intellectual property law in this country.
Repeat after me: DRM-spyware. DRM-spyware. DRM-spyware. DRM-spyware. DRM-spyware. DRM-spyware...
Posted by: 
Terry Frazier at 5:43 PM
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Categories: Copyright, DMCA, Music, RIAA
Terry Frazier at 5:43 PM
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Friday, November 18, 2005
Complete List of Sony/BMG Rootkit CDs
Here's the complete list of all 52 CDs designed to infect your windoze computer with a "rootkit" - a hidden, backdoor program that opens your computer to nefarious communications, viruses, and other exploits. These CDs, manufactured and marketed by Sony/BMG for the sole purpose of infecting your personal computer to protect their intellectual property, may soon be recalled by Sony. If you own one of these CDs please do not play it on your personal computer. Unsubstantiated estimates are that more than 500,000 computers have already been infected. You don't want to be number 500,001.
Posted by: Terry Frazier at 11:33 AM
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Categories: Copyright, DMCA, Music, RIAA
Terry Frazier at 11:33 AM
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Monday, October 24, 2005
Congressman Westmoreland Explains Broadcast Flag
A couple of weeks ago I sent e-mail regarding the Broadcast Flag to all three of my elected representatives in Washington. A staff member from the office of Senator Saxby Chambliss called me a couple of days later with an encouraging response. Today I received this response from Congressman Lynn Westmoreland. [More...]
Posted by: Terry Frazier at 10:42 PM
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Categories: Copyright, Policy & Regulation
Terry Frazier at 10:42 PM
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This Page was last updated: Wed, 02 Jul 2008 22:06:57 GMT
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