Free Martha; jail Sony
I fail to see the difference between Sony and a hacker. The media company's recent abortive attempt to plant trojan DRMs on much of music-loving America's home computers is as bad a security story as I've heard. Sony used two different systems, First4Internet XCP and SunnComm MediaMax software, and tampered with between 20 and 25 million audio CDs. This was, of course, the prototype test; presumably they would have upped the ante if they'd gotten away it.
They're now being sued by the state of Texas and by the EFF
But what inquiring minds would like to know is why no government activity? If Sony was a 17 year old Finnish kid who'd just cracked the encryption on a DVD, let alone planted Trojans, then "he" would be already locked up in a hard-core prison, eschewing showers and hastily marking out his first jailhouse tattoo with a magic marker and a butter knife. So why not Sony?
Why isn't the government suing on behalf of US consumers?
From a security perspective, isn't DHS worried about widespread trojan propagation? From a consumer perspective, isn't the FTC concerned? From a protective view towards constituents, isn't Congress appalled?
Posted on November 23, 2005
