[F-3582]

how very, very, very true. congrats. ^^

Well, I have a few copy-protected audio CDs and all of them have one thing in common:

I can play them in Winamp easily, yes, even my Windows Media Player has no problems with them. Only my Stereo won't play them...

 

[F-3582]

I'll write a email to paramount and tell them to make me VD because I must be a 1000 times smarter than the people in charge ( I'm not claiming to be that smart either )

Well, 0 * 1000 = ???

...just kidding

 

[F-3582]

Really? I thought that those gorillaz were just to stand somewhere and to look big... You don't need your cortex for that (your "thinking" parts, at least)

 

[F-3582]

Meanwhile, back to rootkits and DRM...

If Sony is suicidal enough to install hidden rootkits on users' HDs that can still be detected but hardly removable at all, don't you think that means it's planning hardware lock-ins as well in the furute?

The Playstation 3 will probably ship with a HD unit, with a GNU/Linux system preinstalled to provide emulation of PS1 and PS2 games "in software and hardware".
Don't you think this could also mean such rootkits might be present BY DEFAULT on the HD, and any tampering with these could mean lost functionnality for your PS3, as it is the case currently with the XboX (tampering with hardware means your console will be banned from XboX Live FOREVER, even if nothing actually occured)

With hardware lock-ins, it will (most) definitely impossible to remove such a piece of scumware from your HD unit, even for skilled techs...

Dudes, watch out for anything with SONY on it, keep your computers safe, this scheme surely isn't restricted to music CDs, probably doable on anything with a HD (computers, consoles, huh...iPods?)

Well, In my opinion the scenario you described is pretty unlikely to happen.

First of all, if SONY releases an operating system for the PS3, it will definitely NOT be Windows which seems to be especially vulnerable to rootkits due to its API system. It'll more likely be a Linux distribution which can be easily patched against stuff like that. Furthermore such a Linux disribution (similar to the PS2 Linux Kit) might be built by SONY themselves, making it possible to integrate such crap directly into the OS kernel. Again, this should be no problem to patch.

Last, but not least, why should they even bother with crap like that? I suppose that they'll integrate such mechanisms directly in the BIOS, so in the end you will again have to chip your console in order to circumvent that DRM crap.

 

[F-3582]

You do realise we already said SONY is going to be using GUNU/linux on the PS3 HD and they are the ones who use rootkits on thier own music CDs right? therefore it's more likely they have this kind of crapware copyprotection built in to the PS3 hardware and the PS3 OS, there is a good chance that the ps3 will also have some kind of DRM mechinism that reports back to SONY or some other greedy bastards everytime you play a "personalrightsprotected"(I am making a new term that will hopefully spread around here, it means it stops you from using your right to copy, rip or even play your cds in certain devices) CD/DVD/BRD(Blue Ray Disc)

Of course I do know that. You didn't seem to get my point entirely. The question was whether Sony was to put some data hiding rootkit onto the PS3 HD to protect contents in a similar way as they do on regular PCs. My answer was NO, because a SONY-built OS will more likely have such things integrated directly making a simple rootkit obsolete. And I still think that it might be circumvented by patching unless there's some tricky watching program in the BIOS to prevent you from doing such things.

It could be intergrated into the CPU and other components making it harder to crack than a simple modchip

That's what I was trying to say. Sorry if I didn't express that thought properly.

 

[F-3582]

This is insane! They are treating music like a part of software. Do those CDs even play in a "un-approved" CD player? Like my old CD radio which is certainly not on their list

 

[F-3582]

Surely SONY isn't the only company doing this. It only got our attention because we're expecting their PS3

Shouldn't we somehow keep in mind that SONY is a huge corporation with lots of different branches? I mean, I don't think that Sony Computer Entertainment International/Japan/America/Europe has anything to do with SONY-Music/Sony-BMG/Sony-Whatevar. Of course, I share your opinion that Sony developed the Playstation, but too many people seem to think that the name SONY means that those two entirely different cogs in the system were connected in any way.

It's like comparing Budweiser and Budweiser.

 

[F-3582]

Today I read an article in the "newspaper" (metro ) about sony taking back all those cd's with that protection. My mom has got one Celine Dion cd and I think it has been published by Sony, is their any easy way to see if that POS rootkit is running on our family pc? Maybe I can sue them

Time to take revenge for what they did to Bleem :evil:

Umm... wasn't that rootsh1t an America-only phenomenon? Do you really think that you might be affected, too?

 

[F-3582]

Whoops. I thought that lobby in Europe wasn't that strong to push things like that into legality...

 

[F-3582]

Or don't use Auto-run. The tape might be small, but it's enough to risk instability of the CD. Besides, it'll also cause wear and tear on the drive.

Applying another piece of duct tape on the opposite side should do the trick.

 

[F-3582]

The point is that the laser will be damaged either ways, because of the higher output while trying to read those sectors. It's similar to the LA chip issue in new PS2s when reading bad media for a long time (even when not using a mod chip).

 

[F-3582]

*nothing special here*

 

[F-3582]

Maybe we shoud all disable the autorum feature

How about holding SHIFT while inserting a "suspicious" CD?