Sony's new weapon to beat music downloads

[Mythor]

I believe that once it installs it's evil little background stuff it then recognises the disc and if anything other than their special player tries to access the disc, it tells Windows that it's not allowed to, or that "this disc is faulty so don't send any data to the program, kthxbai."

Which could mean that even something as innocuous as trying to play the CD through WinAmp or Windows Media Player won't work, even though there's nothing illegal about doing so.

[Edward]

The software also hides any file that starts with the characters $sys$
Not just "hidden till you tell Windows to show hidden files" hidden but "we've replaced low-level calls within the operating system so not even your virus-scanner can see this file" hidden. That presents a handy platform for virus/trojan writers to exploit. Plus it phones home telling Sony what album you're playing every time you insert a CD.

[VAxwell]

That's beyond fucked...!

[Mythor]

Microsoft is 'concerned' by the issue, which should raise all kinds of red flags for people. Can only imagine how pissed off they are behind the scenes. They already have a bit of a nightmare when it comes to keeping Windows secure, it's a bit dodgy when another huge corporation is deliberately compromising security.

[Puppy]

Publisher pulls anti-copy software

Now, the only thing left is what are they going to do about the people who were affected by it.

[Mythor]

They're not permanently putting a stop to it, only temporarily, while they assess whether it meets their goals of security and ease of use for the consumer.
Which means they'll get the company who made it to ensure the new version is "tamper proof", then they'll start putting it on CDs again.

[Edit]
Oh and this is embarrassing backdown number 2 for Sony today, as it's Online Entertainment arm was forced to offer a full refund to customers who bought the latest expansion pack for Star Wars Galaxies if they feel they were misled.

Suffer in ya jocks, Sony.