cdfree used our news submit to tell us "It is hard to believe that this activation of the previously loaded driver is just a bug in the software. It looks like Sony-BMG and SunnComm intended to have the malware driver activated in spite of the desires of the user."
This is most interesting indeed. It seems that it's a very prudent move to have auto play disabled on your computer, especially if you purchase and play Sony music discs in your PC. According to Freedom to Tinker: "MediaMax phones home whenever you play a protected CD, automatically installs over 12 MB of software before even displaying an End User License Agreement, and fails to include an uninstaller."
Designed to interfere with ripping and copying Cd's, MediaMax in some cases, installs drivers even if you decline the EULA! Due to a reaction to an earlier news article on another MediaMax digital rights management (DRM) story, the author was alerted to this behavior. He had not noticed it previously, due to his strictly controlled test environment and procedures.
When this happens depends on what version of MediaMax is being used. An older version, called CD-3, was introduced in 2003 and is present on albums released as recently as this summer. There is also a newer version, MediaMax MM-5, which has been shipping for a little over a year. You can tell which version is on a CD by examining the files in the disc's root directory. Albums protected by MediaMax CD-3 contain a file called LaunchCD.EXE while MM-5 albums include a file named PlayDisc.exe. When you insert a CD containing either version of MediaMax, an installer program automatically starts (unless you have disabled the Windows autorun feature). This installer places the copy protection driver and other files on the hard disk, and then presents a license agreement, which you are asked to accept or decline. In the following scenarios the driver may become permanently activated even if you always decline the agreement:
These steps don't have to take place all at once. They can happen over a period of weeks or months. |
What great work
this person is doing! You can visit the Freedom to Tinker website if you would like to read the story in it's entirety. In addition, there are links there to the person that discovered the behavior to begin with and you can read those comments as well.
Source: Freedom to tinker
