Let the SONY lawsuits begin

[YoshiSato]

Time for a world-wide boycott of all Sony products.

Does anyone know of the other companys and brands Sony owns?


P.S here is another interesting article about this Scam from Sony

 

[DragonMasterAlex]

Originally posted by: YoshiSato

Originally posted by: DragonMasterAlex

Originally posted by: HDTVMan
Sony takes DRM too far.
http://www.sysinternals.com/blog/2005/10/sony-rootkits-and-digital-rights.html

Too much proof and not following a EULA its lawsuit time.

How can anyone *possibly* be surprised by this? Sony are bastards and they always have been. They lie and distort the truth worse than any company I've *ever* seen just to sell products. They make Microsoft look like a pinnacle of virtue, for Chrissakes.

There's a simple solution here, folks: Don't buy Sony products. Don't buy their music, their movies, their players, their games--don't give them your dollars. Make Sony pay for their crimes by taking away your monetary support. It will do more good than any government action will, and more importantly, it is within your power to *ensure* that Sony doesn't get your dollars. All you have to do is make a choice and then follow through on it.

Jason

Well no PS3 then. Nor will my new home theater system be a sony. Thye just lost 800 dollars. BFD.

Personally, when PS3 comes out I plan to pick up an Xbox 360. I figure it like this: They'll have had the first price drop by then, the second gen software will be hitting while PS3's first gen is hitting and all the good stuff will be on 360 at that point. Other than that, Rev. Besides, if PS3 follows suit with PS1 and PS2, the first batch will be junk anyway.

Oh, and believe me, you *don't* want a Sony home theatre system. Their receivers are the *worst* I've ever seen and their subs & speakers are crap. Only way to get a good Sony receiver or speakers is to go with their ES models, and those will put you into debt in a way that will make you cry

Jason

 

[YoshiSato]

Originally posted by: DragonMasterAlex
Q]

Personally, when PS3 comes out I plan to pick up an Xbox 360. I figure it like this: They'll have had the first price drop by then, the second gen software will be hitting while PS3's first gen is hitting and all the good stuff will be on 360 at that point. Other than that, Rev. Besides, if PS3 follows suit with PS1 and PS2, the first batch will be junk anyway.

Oh, and believe me, you *don't* want a Sony home theatre system. Their receivers are the *worst* I've ever seen and their subs & speakers are crap. Only way to get a good Sony receiver or speakers is to go with their ES models, and those will put you into debt in a way that will make you cry

Jason

I'm not even buying Sony brand batteries. Hell with their thinking they will have a EULA making it only possible to use the batteries in a Sony product.

You do know that if you have a Ipod you can't convert a Sony CD to play on the iPod right because if ther "protection"
BTW the pirates are still trading the protected CDs on the P2P networks. This did nothing to protect the media. All it did was treat legitimate consumers like criminals(USSR style)

 

[Cerb]

Originally posted by: cstegger
Back to this article. Do you think installing rootkits is a good practice? Whether it is a BIG Company or your not so friendly neighbor kid. I personally wouldn't like to have one loaded on my machine from either source. Attacking another person does little to state how you feel about something IMHO. I think that that copy protection is a neccessary evil to protect intellectual property of the developers or artists painstaking work but when you start altering the system of the client to hide running processes you have installed mallware. And this is plain wrong and should be punished in the same way as if a hacker did that to your computer. Not just once but for every computer that they have done this to.

No.
One thing to note, too, is that a rootkit, as they exist for Windows, mostly describes the way of hiding stuff, not necessarily any control that it may have.

From Ars, originally: "Remember when we used to own stuff? Yeah, that great."

 

[Cerb]

Originally posted by: YoshiSato

Originally posted by: DragonMasterAlex
Q]

Personally, when PS3 comes out I plan to pick up an Xbox 360. I figure it like this: They'll have had the first price drop by then, the second gen software will be hitting while PS3's first gen is hitting and all the good stuff will be on 360 at that point. Other than that, Rev. Besides, if PS3 follows suit with PS1 and PS2, the first batch will be junk anyway.

Oh, and believe me, you *don't* want a Sony home theatre system. Their receivers are the *worst* I've ever seen and their subs & speakers are crap. Only way to get a good Sony receiver or speakers is to go with their ES models, and those will put you into debt in a way that will make you cry

Jason

I'm not even buying Sony brand batteries. Hell with their thinking they will have a EULA making it only possible to use the batteries in a Sony product.

Aside: they are likely really Sanyo, anyway

You do know that if you have a Ipod you can't convert a Sony CD to play on the iPod right because if ther "protection"

How so? Nothing about this seems to have any effect on the ability of a good drive, such a LiteOn, to rip audio.

BTW the pirates are still trading the protected CDs on the P2P networks. This did nothing to protect the media. All it did was treat legitimate consumers like criminals(USSR style)

Until they quit making CDs, it won't stop.
Then, there will be a brief period in which non-US citizens disassemble PowerDVD and WinDVD to find how to break DVD-A (and maybe the new SACD, if it's protected--I'm not sure) properly, and then we just swap from US to non-US download sites (and of course, apt repositories ), and have at them again. After all, when there isn't an alternate source, the new one will be broken.

 

[Deleted member 4644]

Sony should go down for this one.

 

[YoshiSato]

Originally posted by: LordSegan
Sony should go down for this one.

5 years ago I'd be the feds would put major fines on Sony.

10 years ago you'd have lynch mobs in the street out side Sony HQ if they did this sort of thing back then.

Technology is supposed to make people's lives eaiser and more enjoyable. Today's new technology makes the simple task of listen to some music require a guru. WTH has happend?

 

[Vanquisherfx]

I've own a handlful of sony products over the decade. And i must say they have the most overpriced and overrated pieces of crap around.
Here's a short list:

CD Player: bought at $300. Used for going to school and back (2hr total)/day. Used for only 6months. Rechargeable Battery died after 1 1/2 years. Warrantee only for 1 years.
No-retail store were carrying the batteries. So I would have to order them from Japan. Pissed the hell out of me.

PS1 - Died after 2years. No one in my family are gamers and i've used my dreamcast x3 more often and it's still working.
I currently have PS1 x2 and PS2 x2. One of the PS2 had heating issues. the other one is the slim.

Sony PC: overrated.
They carried Spyware. And Sony made no public nor private apology.

The only thing decent from Sony is probably they're CRT Television.

I refuse to buy any more products from Sony. And they should be fine for their fraudulent products.

 

[Mr Bob]

Originally posted by: Cerb
Did the CD, by any chance, sport the good old CDDA logo? If not, buying it is a risk. Red book FTW, DRM DIAF.

This is hacking, and Sony should not not get fined: they should have to pay a per-incedent fine to anyone who bought a copy of one of those discs.

Well said. I wish a mod would come along and clean up this other bullsh!t. Thanks for actually posting on topic, amazing how people with 3k posts cant even stay focused on a topic.

 

[catnap1972]

Originally posted by: 3chordcharlie

Originally posted by: ntdz

Originally posted by: bthorny
I think this is just more proof that Zendari=Riprorin...

Didn't he trash him over this all the time....or maybe I'm thinking of someone else.....

That's ludicrous. Rip was totally religious and socially conservative, I don't see zendari making any posts similar to Rip's.

I agree, Rip was a thousand times brighter, as well.

Zendari didn't even know about dave's little run-in with the law until a day or two ago.

Zen's too busy copying movies (obviously to teach those EVUL Hollywood RIAA leftists a lesson)

http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview...atid=52&threadid=1620023&enterthread=y

Originally posted by: zendari
Fvck them both and huge copy protection garbage.

Or perhaps this gem from the "Sick of copy protection crap" thread

http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview...hreadid=1619873&enterthread=y&arctab=y

Originally posted by: zendari
Medicinebear, DVD shrink and Decrypter are easy to use programs that should work well for you.

(obviously he must be remastering his home movies cuz that's a NO NO on commercial DVDs)

 

[Vic]

The heart and soul of DRM can be summed up in Napster's latest marketing phrase: "Own nothing, have everything."

The traditional system of music distribution, where the consumer purchased specific products from specific artists, benefitted the artists and consumers more than the production and distribution companies. The new system being pushed for is one where the consumer pays for his entertainment content on a monthly basis. As soon the consumer stops paying each month, he loses his privileges. This is not about preventing piracy or copyright infringement. It's not even really about profits (especially when one considers the enormous expense the new system is costing). It's about control. Control over the artists and control over the consumers. Control over the artists even more so.

A few words of advice: disable autoplay. Better yet, don't play your new content-protected audio CD's on your PC's period. Line-in an old school style CD player and capture the audio in wav at 1x, the encode to your favorite compression (like ripping vinyl). Remember, if it can be played, it can be recorded and copied. No matter how many billions Sony and the like spend, they can never prevent that, they can only make in inconvenient.

 

[The Linuxator]

Originally posted by: Vic
The heart and soul of DRM can be summed up in Napster's latest marketing phrase: "Own nothing, have everything."

The traditional system of music distribution, where the consumer purchased specific products from specific artists, benefitted the artists and consumers more than the production and distribution companies. The new system being pushed for is one where the consumer pays for his entertainment content on a monthly basis. As soon the consumer stops paying each month, he loses his privileges. This is not about preventing piracy or copyright infringement. It's not even really about profits (especially when one considers the enormous expense the new system is costing). It's about control. Control over the artists and control over the consumers. Control over the artists even more so.

A few words of advice: disable autoplay. Better yet, don't play your new content-protected audio CD's on your PC's period. Line-in an old school style CD player and capture the audio in wav at 1x, the encode to your favorite compression (like ripping vinyl). Remember, if it can be played, it can be recorded and copied. No matter how many billions Sony and the like spend, they can never prevent that, they can only make in inconvenient.

Or what I do , an optical out from my PC to the optical-in in my MiniDisc player AWESOME SOUND QUALITY, I have also recorded sound tracks from NFSU 1 & 2 that way, and FCK NO no one can prevent me / detect what I am doing. I have to say I have recently tried the sonyE-507
, the quality of the player itself, and the ease of use are out of this world.specs player and I have to say SONY makes the best hardware and incorporates it with THE WORST SOFTWARE ON THE PLANET , there 1 GB Hi-MD mini-disc would be the perfect replacement for CDs they are almost infinitly rewritable like a harddrive, and they rip at 100X and cost only $ 7 a pieace WOW!, but once you incorporate sony's crappy software you get the most disgusting BS ever, that's why I will never buy any Sony product, I love my Mini-Disc NE-510 CK because of the optical recording that I was talking about.
But I think I would buy their products (i.e Hi-MD player) if their software allows me to drag and drop the files in and out of my Mini-Disc player otherwise it's nothing else for me.

 

[Cerb]

c|net article
Wow, somebody at c|net still hasn't sold her soul to Apple. I'm impressed.

(credit: Febs found it, not I)

P.S. The Linuxator, I wholly agree. If it weren't for the DRM, I might have gone for one of the 'perfume bottle' Sony players. As far as the hardware goes, they are now the only large company that can really compete with Apple.

 

[The Linuxator]

Originally posted by: Cerb
c|net article
Wow, somebody at c|net still hasn't sold her soul to Apple. I'm impressed.

(credit: Febs found it, not I)

P.S. The Linuxator, I wholly agree. If it weren't for the DRM, I might have gone for one of the 'perfume bottle' Sony players. As far as the hardware goes, they are now the only large company that can really compete with Apple.

The SONY perfume bottle has a 1 GB capacity of MP3 music, you can fit 2 GB of compressed MP3(which means my whole music library that consists of 1.5GB of MP3s at 128Kbps) into Atrac3 plus which sounds exactly the same as an MP3 but at half the bitrates (in ATRAC3-Plus ofcourse), ppl don't understand this, but sony has to be thee most advanceed company in the Audio market, how many companies we know of were capable of making there own file format(that kicks MP3 in the arse), plus making their own storage solution (the 1 GB Hi-MD mini-discs which is reveloutionary by far), the battery lifetime of the sony MP3-Atrac3 plus player is 50 hrs of continious playback WOW, and note to other members I have purchased this player for one week before returning it due to the sucky software, it's by far THEE BEST AUDIO PLAYER HARDWARE TECHNOLOGY HAS TO OFFER ATM, the organic white pixel display that is covered behind a semi-transparent Archylic-Zinc layer is pure sweetnes, the sound quality is amazing, the weight is incredible it ways a tad over the wight of my lighter YA NO JOKE. Not only that you can use it as a jump drive and I have been able to use it in Linux to transfer files, the file transfer rate is awesome ( unless you are transforming into ATRAC-3 plus and transfering at the same time)

cliffs about the SONY 1 GB MP3 / ATRAC3-Plus Player from personal experience :

PROS :

1- Incredible Battery Lifetime = 50 Hours of continious playback.

2- An FM tuner that doesn't suck.

3- Fits 2 GB of MP3 s in the Atrac3 Plus which sounds good
or you can save 1 GB of MP3 without compressing them ( I recommend compressing them).

4- Can be used as a USB drive , works in Linux like an other storage device.

5- Weighs lighter and it's smaller than anyhting else of it's class period.

6- 3 minutes of charging through a USB connection gives you 3-hours of continious playback , I have tested this personally there is no bluff here.

7- Sound quality is amazing.

8- The design is incredible , the easiness of use is like nothing else.

9- Nice Organic white pixel display, hidden behind an Archylic Zinc layer.

10-If I could hack this player to allow me to Drag and drop music out of it I would buy 5 of them, becasue this player is EPIC.


CONS :


1-SUCKY SOFTWARE !!!
2-SUCKY SOFTWARE !!!
3-SUCKY SOFTWARE !!!
4-SUCKY SOFTWARE !!!
5-SUCKY SOFTWARE !!!
6- & more SUCKY SOFTWARE !!!

I know I am talking alot here, but I tried all the apples, and Creative Zen models, and the SONY player is lighter and fancier and has much more to offer.

 

[Cerb]

Derailing (kind of comes back in the last sentence)...

First, who wants to use Atrac? Seems like a waste of time to me, just because of the Sony lock-in.

Second, and Pro #3, 1GB = 1GB, no matter how you slice it. 1GB of MP3s says nothing about the MP3s or the Atracs that could go on there. 8k? 384k? What encoder, what version of it, and what settings? Did you check by ABXing them? It's 1GB, and there is no perfect answer for everyone's brain when it comes the ability to fit the music on there at a good quality.

Speaking of ABX tests...
http://www.rjamorim.com/test/multiformat128/results.html
Any universal claims of quality for a lossy codec are not to be trusted.

Third, AFAIK, they still require special software to do the music management. I like doing that myself. Transcode with FB2K+LAME, transfer with Explorer. My player has some software (JetAudio, JetShell), but I've not bothered to install it, because it serves no purpose for me.

Pro #6: replacing the battery makes that a null issue (1x900mAh gives me around 12 hours). However, I'd deal with a LI battery for that nice of a player w/o DRM. If Sony were still an electronics company, not a be-everything-about-entertainment company, they probably would have it out, already.

 

[BBond]

Originally posted by: dmcowen674

Originally posted by: Cerb
Did the CD, by any chance, sport the good old CDDA logo? If not, buying it is a risk. Red book FTW, DRM DIAF.

This is hacking, and Sony should not not get fined: they should have to pay a per-incedent fine to anyone who bought a copy of one of those discs.

Sony got so scared that they released a patch today to make the code unhidden and you can delete it.

Or was it simply just mention my name??? :shocked:

11-2-2005 Sony to offer patch to reveal hidden copy-protection software

SAN JOSE, Calif. ? After a chorus of criticism, Sony Corp.'s music division said Wednesday it is distributing a free software patch to reveal hidden files that automatically installed to hard drives when some of its music CDs were played on personal computers.
The offending technology was designed to thwart music piracy.

The controversy highlights the need for rules as to what content providers can and can't install on PCs to protect their property, said Russinovich, who is co-founder and chief software architect at Winternals Software, which specializes in advanced systems software for Microsoft Windows.

"We need to get some formality about what's legal, what's ethical and what's fair ? and what level of disclosure there needs to be," he said. "It's fine for Sony to say we're not going to do that now. What kind of guarantee do we have they're not going to do it at a future date or that other companies are not going to do this?"

Consistent with Sony's abyssmal standards the uninstaller is almost as bad as the rootkit.

More on Sony: Dangerous Decloaking Patch, EULAs and Phoning Home

Sony sux.

 

[The Linuxator]

Originally posted by: Cerb
Derailing (kind of comes back in the last sentence)...

First, who wants to use Atrac? Seems like a waste of time to me, just because of the Sony lock-in.

Second, and Pro #3, 1GB = 1GB, no matter how you slice it. 1GB of MP3s says nothing about the MP3s or the Atracs that could go on there. 8k? 384k? What encoder, what version of it, and what settings? Did you check by ABXing them? It's 1GB, and there is no perfect answer for everyone's brain when it comes the ability to fit the music on there at a good quality.

Speaking of ABX tests...
http://www.rjamorim.com/test/multiformat128/results.html
Any universal claims of quality for a lossy codec are not to be trusted.

Third, AFAIK, they still require special software to do the music management. I like doing that myself. Transcode with FB2K+LAME, transfer with Explorer. My player has some software (JetAudio, JetShell), but I've not bothered to install it, because it serves no purpose for me.

Pro #6: replacing the battery makes that a null issue (1x900mAh gives me around 12 hours). However, I'd deal with a LI battery for that nice of a player w/o DRM. If Sony were still an electronics company, not a be-everything-about-entertainment company, they probably would have it out, already.

Remember I titled my mini review with "Personal experience" I don't claim to be a pro in the Audio realm, but I know that MP3 s when compressed to ATRAC3 are halfed in size and the quality remained the same (again from my prespective), the 50 hr lifetime is no joke and can't be matched, the reason for that is not in the battery itself, but it's in the way the player's smart power management and hardware.

"Third, AFAIK, they still require special software to do the music management. I like doing that myself. Transcode with FB2K+LAME, transfer with Explorer. My player has some software (JetAudio, JetShell), but I've not bothered to install it, because it serves no purpose for me."

Again that's what I am talking about in the CONS part, Sony is still the best when it comes to hardware, but they are in a position to ANALLY RAPE EVERYONE WITH THEIR DRMs SO THEY ARE NOT SPARING ANYONE.

 

[Schadenfroh]

This utility "might" remove the sony spyware, it is from a respected antivirus vendor but it is in beta
http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview...atid=33&threadid=1729871&enterthread=y

 

[cumhail]

No number of articles or threads or discussions about this will mean a thing unless a well-organized and well-publicized boycott of Sony products is staged; from their CD's to their movies to their video game software and hardware. It can never be total, of course. But if they lost tens, or hundreds, of thousands of customers' business, believe me... Sony would start caring.

cumhail

 

[0roo0roo]

CONS :


1-SUCKY SOFTWARE !!!
2-SUCKY SOFTWARE !!!
3-SUCKY SOFTWARE !!!
4-SUCKY SOFTWARE !!!
5-SUCKY SOFTWARE !!!
6- & more SUCKY SOFTWARE !!!

you forgot
7-SHADY ASS COMPANY THAT DOESN'T DESERVE A SHRED OF OUR MONEY

dude, sony basically is the riaa

 

[cumhail]

More proof that Sony will do whatever it thinks it can get away with...

"Sony BMG executives have defended the company's actions.
Most people don't know what a rootkit is, so why should they care about it," Thomas Hesse, president of Sony BMG's global digital business, said in an interview with National Public Radio on Friday."

http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,1883828,00.asp

cumhail

 

[dmcowen674]

Originally posted by: cumhail
More proof that Sony will do whatever it thinks it can get away with...
"Sony BMG executives have defended the company's actions.
Most people don't know what a rootkit is, so why should they care about it," Thomas Hesse, president of Sony BMG's global digital business, said in an interview with National Public Radio on Friday."

http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,1883828,00.asp

He has got to be a Republican. Can someone confirm this?

 

[cumhail]

Originally posted by: dmcowen674

Originally posted by: cumhail
More proof that Sony will do whatever it thinks it can get away with...
"Sony BMG executives have defended the company's actions.
Most people don't know what a rootkit is, so why should they care about it," Thomas Hesse, president of Sony BMG's global digital business, said in an interview with National Public Radio on Friday."

http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,1883828,00.asp

He has got to be a Republican. Can someone confirm this?

Can someone please not? God forbid we have one freakin thread that isn't about partisan bickering.

cumhail

 

[0roo0roo]

Originally posted by: cumhail
More proof that Sony will do whatever it thinks it can get away with...

"Sony BMG executives have defended the company's actions.
Most people don't know what a rootkit is, so why should they care about it," Thomas Hesse, president of Sony BMG's global digital business, said in an interview with National Public Radio on Friday."

http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,1883828,00.asp

cumhail

:|

 

[Cerb]

Originally posted by: cumhail
More proof that Sony will do whatever it thinks it can get away with...

"Sony BMG executives have defended the company's actions.
Most people don't know what a rootkit is, so why should they care about it," Thomas Hesse, president of Sony BMG's global digital business, said in an interview with National Public Radio on Friday."

http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,1883828,00.asp
cumhail

Yeah, I just read that a few hours ago (this week's Katt comic is great, BTW). You'd have to want to not care to be fooled by that guy.

This is why we need a lawsuit and the EFF or another organization to catch on. Without a nice class action lawsuit or an amazing boycott, it won't change much.