By John Borland
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
Published: November 18, 2005, 12:11 PM PST
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Sony BMG Music Entertainment released details Friday of a virtually unprecedented CD recall program that will allow music buyers to exchange recently purchased CDs with copy protection for new discs and MP3s.
The company is responding to widespread security worries over copy protection technology contained on 52 albums released over the last year. When put in a Windows-based computer's CD player, the discs install antipiracy technology on a hard drive that exposes the PC to the risk of viruses and other hacker attacks.
Sony said on Friday that customers who have purchased any of the affected CDs can mail the discs back to the company using instructions found on the record label's Web site. Once they have sent in the discs, customers will also be provided with a link to download MP3s of the songs on the album.
"Sony BMG is reviewing all aspects of its content protection initiatives to be sure that they are secure and user-friendly for consumers," the company said in a statement. "As the company develops new initiatives, it will continue to seek new ways to meet consumers' demands for flexibility in how they listen to music, while protecting intellectual-property rights."
The recall of 4.7 million compact discs, along with the exchange offer for the roughly 2.1 million discs sold with the copy protection technology included, is an expensive step for a record company that has been battered by criticism online and in other media for the past two weeks.
The copy protection software, created by British company First 4 Internet, hid traces of itself on hard drives using a powerful programming tool called a "rootkit," a technique sometimes used by virus writers to similarly mask the presence of an infection on a PC.
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Because of flaws in the rootkit, Sony's software was left open enough such that other, malicious software could take advantage of its presence on a computer to hide itself. Several pieces of malicious software have already appeared online that piggyback on the copy protection to vanish in a PC, opening the computer to outside attacks.
Security researchers have found flaws not only in the original First 4 Internet software, but also in an uninstaller tool temporarily distributed by Sony that could directly allow an attacker access to a PC.
The Sony exchange offer is immediately available, and the company will pay all shipping charges in both directions, it said. Discs are already being pulled off retail shelves and are no longer available at online stores, including Amazon.com.
SONY BMG MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT COMMUNICATIONS PRESS LINE 212-833-5047
COLUMBIA RECORDS, NEW YORK 212-833-5212
COLUMBIA RECORDS, SANTA MONICA 310-449-2100
EPIC RECORDS, NEW YORK 212-833-7442
EPIC RECORDS, SANTA MONICA 310-449-2100
LEGACY RECORDINGS 212-833-7310
SONY DISC MANUFACTURING 541-988-7600
SONY CLASSICAL 212-833-8200
SONY MUSIC NASHVILLE 615-742-4321
MAIN NUMBERS:
SONY BMG MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT, NEW YORK 212-833-8000
SONY BMG MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT, SANTA MONICA 310-449-2100
CONSUMER CONTACT INFORMATION:
If you have a question about a Sony Music product such as a CD, DVD, cassette, etc., contact:
SONY MUSIC CONSUMER PRODUCT 800-255-7514
If you have a question about a Sony Electronics product such as a CD player, DVD player, Walkman, etc. contact:
SONY ELECTRONICS CUSTOMER SERVICE 800-222-SONY (7669)
If you have a question about a Sony Computer product, such as a Vaio or Playstation, contact:
COMPUTER PRODUCTS INQUIRIES 800-352-7669
If you have a question about the operation of a Sony Computer product you have purchased, contact:
COMPUTER TECH SUPPORT 800-326-9551
If you would like an annual report for Sony Corporation, contact:
SONY ANNUAL REPORT HOTLINE 212-833-6849
OTHER COMPANIES IN THE SONY FAMILY INCLUDE:
SONY CORPORATION OF AMERICA / SONY BROADBAND ENTERTAINMENT
MAIN: 212-833-6800
SCA/SBE CORP. COMMUNICATIONS: 212-833-6852
SONY PICTURES ENTERTAINMENT
L.A. OFFICE 310-244-4000
N.Y. OFFICE 212-833-8500
COLUMBIA TRI-STAR PICTURE GROUP 310-244-4000
COLUMBIA TRI-STAR TV GROUP 310-202-1234
SONY PICTURES CLASSICS 212-833-8833
LOEWS CINEPLEX ENT. 212-833-6200
SONY ELECTRONICS
PARK RIDGE HEADQUARTERS 201-930-1000
SAN JOSE HEADQUARTERS 408-432-1600
SONY COMPUTER ENTERTAINEMT
SONY VAIO PRODUCTS 858-942-7783
PLAYSTATION 650-655-6044
Sony BMG aims to amend XCP CD users with MP3s & new CDs
Posted by Seán Byrne on 20 November 2005 - 01:17 - Source: Reuters - Technology News
http://www.cdfreaks.com/news/12714 When Sony initially started its Digital Audio Player Walkman series, they were totally against the MP3 format, however after very poor sales, they added MP3 support on their later Walkman series. Now, after causing so much grief and anger with their XCP rootkit based copy protection software, Sony BMG has finally announced that it would do anything it possibly can to amend the customers who have been affected.
So Sony BMG has decided to do one thing that no one would ever dream of Sony Corp. nor Sony BMG doing, by e-mailing the affected customers a link to their website where they can download unprotected MP3 tracks of their affected CDs as part of the exchange programme. 4.7 million CDs with the XCP software have been recalled and customers can send back their affected CDs for replacement unprotected CDs of the same titles in return.
Due to further controversy over the security issues of Sony BMG's recent uninstall tool, the company has announced that they would make a new uninstall tool available. Unfortunately, this will not be the end of copy-protection either for the company as they still emphasise that it is an important tool for protecting their own and the artists' intellectual property rights. Thanks to Hypnosis4U2NV who used our news submit to let us know about the following news:
In an attempt to make up with consumers whose PCs have been exposed to unsecure copy-protection software which acts like malware, music publisher Sony BMG said on Friday it would swap unsecure CDs for new unprotected disks as well as unprotected MP3 files.
The music publishing venture of Japanese electronics conglomerate Sony Corp. and Germany's Bertelsmann AG had already said last week it would temporarily suspend the manufacture of music CDs containing the controversial copy-protection technology.
The XCP copy-protection programme, developed by British software firm First4Internet and used by Sony BMG to restrict copying and sharing of music CDs, acts like virus software and hides deep inside a computer where it leaves the backdoor open for malicious hackers.
Sony BMG, after announcing a recall of some 4.7 million CDs with the software on Wednesday, said on Friday consumers could mail their CDs to the company, and they would receive a new unprotected CD in return.
Pending the processing of the exchange programme, consumers would also receive an email with details of a Website where they could download the music tracks as unprotected MP3 files.
It seems like Sony has finally given up with the copy-protection on the 52 affected discs. Then again from what I can see, offering MP3 versions of the tracks is not going to make piracy any worse either since chances are that the tracks of all 52 CDs would likely be widely shared at this point, not to mention that the only people who were affected by this nasty software were those who have actually got the official CDs! However, at least the consumers can play these replacement tracks on any MP3 player, including iPods and not just those supporting some form of DRM.
