RED HERRING | Texas Sues Sony Over Spyware
RED HERRING: The state of Texas sued Sony BMG Music Entertainment on Monday for allegedly installing spyware through its copyright protection software on music CDS, making it the first state to bring legal action against the music giant in the month-old controversy.
In a previous article RED HERRING reported that Computer Associates (CA) had discovered that Sony installed - without the user permission - a rootkit on the users computers.
I’m glad the State of Texas are joining those that sues Sony. It is not that I want to limit Sony’s right to protect its copyrighted products, rather I believe it is important that full disclosure takes place BEFORE the purchase.
With disclosure, we, as consumers, can then decide if we want to purchase the product or not.
Over the years I have enjoyed making my own music mix tapes and CDs from materials I have purchased. I’d probably change my music buying habits if I’ll have to pay every time I make a new mix. I’d probably download just a few songs - with the likely result that the performers (and their record companies) would get less exposure and less royalties.
This is about more than digital rights though. In a Internet 2.0 world information spreads through communities at a blazing speed. We already see how blogs are starting to influence public opinion - or at least bring issues to light. For any company to be successful in this environment they will have to be honest and open about their product offerings - “side effects” and all.
It doesn’t matter if you sell a digital product or physical products such as cars, vacuum cleaners or clothing. Honesty is required - shady business practices will surly be exposed.
In my November 10 posting (Security vs. Productivity) I wrote about Paul Wing’s Risk definition: “Risk is … not consistently meeting business objectives and there being an adverse impact”. I guess Sony misjudged this one. And messing up the uninstaller kit didn’t help.
Will we ever learn? Maybe, with governments getting involved the stakes are higher and we’re more likely to see companies “think twice” before embarking on similar adventures.
roar at roarweb dot com