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Judge Approves Sony Rootkit Settlement By Walaika K. Haskins May 24, 2006 11:55AM "This settlement gets music fans what they thought they were buying in the first place -- music that will play on all their electronic devices without installing sneaky software," Cindy Cohn, legal director for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, said in a statement.   Related Topics Sony Rootkits Court Music Privacy Latest News Endeavour Inspected for Damage Autism Risk for Kids of Older Mothers Go Online and You Can Save the Planet In Haiti, Relief Gaps Are Spreading U.S. To Form Climate-Change Agency A federal judge gave final approval on Monday for a settlement between Sony BMG and consumers who were part of a class-action lawsuit filed as a result of the record label's use of copyright-protection software secretly embedded in some music CDs. Anyone who purchased, received, or used CDs containing the digital-rights management (DRM) software after August 1, 2003, is covered under the agreement. Those who file a claim will receive new unprotected replacement CDs, free music downloads from a selection of 200 titles, or cash payments of $7.50. Consumers have until the end of 2007 to make their claims. Serious Issue "This settlement gets music fans what they thought they were buying in the first place -- music that will play on all their electronic devices without installing sneaky software," Cindy Cohn, legal director for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, said in a statement. Participating in the settlement, Cohn said, is a way to show Sony and the entertainment industry as a whole how seriously consumers take the issue. "If you take the time to claim the product you deserve, maybe other music labels will think twice before wrapping songs in DRM." A Sony spokesperson said that the company is pleased with the final settlement. Root of the Problem The lawsuit and subsequent agreement, which received temporary approval in January, are the result of Sony's use of a controversial technology intended to stop consumers from making illegal copies of CDs. Late in 2005, security researchers discovered that the DRM software had been secretly installed on consumers' computers. The technology installed automatically, without consumers' consent, when the audio CDs in question were played on PCs. CDs from 52 Sony artists, including Ray Charles, Frank Sinatra, Louis Armstrong, and Celine Dion, contained the DRM software. Plaintiffs in the lawsuit claimed that the technology exposed computers to possible takeover by hackers. In addition, they argued that Sony was able to track listening habits with the software. Fair Play Mukul Krishna, an analyst at Frost & Sullivan, said that if companies are going to add technology that will allow tracking, they first need to get approval from consumers. Right now, copyright-protection technology is very much in the public eye, Krishna said, pointing to Apple's FairPlay technology as a reasonable way to protect content. With FairPlay, he said, the content is protected without tracking consumers or compromising their computer security. What Sony BMG did went beyond protection, he said. "This ruling is not against copy protection, but the way Sony had included other things along with the copy protection and how it made the machine more vulnerable."   Tell Us What You Think Your Comment: Also Visit: iPad Info Center Billions of Bytes Mobile Device Now Apple Info Center TopTechWire.com Advertisement  Computing 1.   Nvidia Auto-Switches Notebook GPU 2.   MS: Windows 7 Doesn't Hurt Battery 3.   Tips for More Windows 7 Productivity 4.   The Pros and Cons of Apple's iPad 5.   IBM Power7 Server Takes on Big Load EPIC Objects To Google-NSA Ties Cyberattack meant to rattle Google? Average Rating: Symbian 3 Is Now Fully Open Source But mobile OS remains linked to Nokia. Average Rating: Google Attack Highlights Black Market Paying for bug info is hotly debated. Average Rating:

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