Infection as rights management
A couple of weeks ago, Mark’s announcement over at Sysinternals of the Sony/BMG inclusion of a rootkit on their newest CD’s created quite an uproar. The Slashdot discussion covers most of the relevant aspects and implications of this move, but a quick summary of the issue as it has progressed can be found over at Schneier’s. Suffice it to say that people are pissed and that this won’t be the last time. But, interestingly, clever hackers have once again found a way of manipulating systems of control to subvert other ones.
update: A portion of the code used in creating their copy protection is in violation of copyright. It’s stolen from open source code originally used to defeat another DRM scheme, written by Jon Lech Johansen.
