What is WRONG with Sony?
Posted Friday, April 11th, 2008 6:57 am by Dave Moyer
Arstechnica reporting that SONY BMG of all people has been caught using pirated software.
The company was in (very) hot water a couple of years ago when it was discovered that they had placed a rootkit on many of their CDs to prevent piracy. This rootkit opened a “back door” on your computer, telling Sony just how you were using the music, and, incidentally, making you a giant rosebush for the honeybee that is spyware. (Aren’t I great with the analogies?)
Sony was called out when an employee called up tech support at PointDev, a French software company that makes Windows administration tools. This employee proceeded to give the representative a pirated license key for the product in need of support, Ideal Migration. According to the Ars story:
The subsequent raid revealed that software was illegally installed on four of Sony BMG’s servers. The Business Software Alliance, however, believes that up to 47 percent of the software installed on Sony BMG’s computers could be pirated.
One of the people I follow on Twitter, Joe (@dogboi), broke the story for me. He later posted a hilarous message:
Sony: “Don’t pirate our music!” - “Oh, but we can steal your software cause you’re only a small company, and you’re french.
It’s probably not even necessary to start spreading a conspiracy theory that Sony hates the French. I’m sure they’ll do a good job themselves. Keep up the good work, Sony.
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Sony needs to face the music. They’re engaging in illegal activities with the RIAA (which is basically just a RICO investigation away from being smashed into bits), they’re installing rootkits, and now they’re using pirated software.
Whoa, maybe someone should do something, like INVESTIGATE Sony’s practices. There’s a thought. Actually hold a company responsible for their actions. And I’m not talking civil suits. I’m talking criminal investigations. It’s time for Interpol to start knocking at their door.