Sony, XCP, LAME, First4Internet

[Martin]

So, I imagine all of you have heard about Sony's XCP software installing a rootkit on your PC.

The company that creates this software is called First4Internet. While disecting their software, people have found that it (illegally) uses functions from the open source mp3 encoder LAME. Reuters has more.

Go Sony. Just what Sony needs right before they launch the PS3 against two huge competitors.

[wtd]

Martin wrote:

So, I imagine all of you have heard about Sony's XCP software installing a rootkit on your PC.

The company that creates this software is called First4Internet. While disecting their software, people have found that it (illegally) uses functions from the open source mp3 encoder LAME. Reuters has more.

Go Sony. Just what Sony needs right before they launch the PS3 against two huge competitors.

Right before? Isn't there talk of delaying the PS3 launch until 2007?

Also... LGPL code in a Sony product? LGPL -> GPL -> Linux. Ohemgee! Sony's gonna get sued by SCO.

[Martin]

Last I heard, the talk was for a PS3 launch near the middle of next year. I have no idea though.

[Hikaru79]

Ha ha, how beautifully ironic. In a product that was meant to enforce their own intellectual property, they are actively violating someone else's. Kettle, meet pot.

[Martin]

Exactly.

The problem with piracy has never been people ripping their own cd's and sending a few songs to their friends over msn.

The problem is people (particularly in China) ripping movies, putting their own case on them and selling them as the real thing on street corners for $3 each.

[md]

I kinda wish I had managed to buy one of hte cd's with the root kit... if only to get in on one of the law suits.

[Martin]

Yeah really.

Goodbye Sony. Nice knowing you.

[Tony]

[Paul]

I've heard about this first in people using it to bypass security measures in MMORPG's like WoW. But blizzard patched this fast though. Some people even asked how to install this rootkit on to their computer without the CD. From what I could gleen, the rootkit seems to be a bad idea and is bad for your computer.

[wtd]

Windows is bad for your computer. The rootkit is just a symptom.

[Tony]

since they forced users to use their software to play to content, would that mean that one would not be able to listen to the CD in an environment other than Windows? If so -- was that advertised on the product?

[md]

If you use the cd in anything other then a windows machine it's just like any other CD; so those of us running linux aren't affected in any way

[Dan]

I do not blive a root kit initself could be used to by pass anything in an MMORPG. All a rootkit dose is make a process or progame run so it is unditecatbale by the OS or any other software on the comp (in theroy). Ex. you could not see it in the task list in the task manger. So for it to be a hack for a MMORPG u whould have to be using it to hide an app that steals peoleops passwords or somthing along thos lines.

Easy way to buy pass this instalion if you have such a CD and whont to use it on a windows comp. Hit shift, yep thats right. If you hold down the shift key well puting a cd in to a comp runing windows it stop it from autorunig any instalion apps. By the way under U.S. law i could be sued for millions of dolloars for telling you that. Dosen't it make you love canada?

[Hikaru79]

Hacker Dan wrote:

I do not blive a root kit initself could be used to by pass anything in an MMORPG. All a rootkit dose is make a process or progame run so it is unditecatbale by the OS or any other software on the comp (in theroy). Ex. you could not see it in the task list in the task manger. So for it to be a hack for a MMORPG u whould have to be using it to hide an app that steals peoleops passwords or somthing along thos lines.

That's almost exactly it. See, Blizzard released a program called "The Warden" that would scan your running processes to make sure you weren't using a trainer or anything like that (Only while you were playing World of Warcraft, of course). However, Sony's rootkit could hide those processes -- all you had to do was rename them with a $sys$ out in front, and the Warden could no longer see them.

Here's the announcement of it: http://www.securityfocus.com/brief/34

[Dan]

Most intresting..........