Late December 2005, Sony settled a consolidated class-action lawsuit with its consumers after they were sued over using XCP and MediaMax copy protection measures on its CDs. This copy protection measure opened PCs to serious security vulnerabilities through the use of rootkits and offered no means of removal. In January, Sony proposed a deal with its customers in order to regain trust. The proposed deal offers consumers with affected CDs a free replacement, $7.50 cash and a choice of a downloadable album from a selection of 200 online titles.
While Sony received a temporary approval in January, a federal judge has finally granted a full approval of this settlement and also requires Sony to provide software to remove the controversial software. An EFF lawyer representing consumers in this case was happy with the outcome and would like everyone who has any of the affected discs to take advantage of the settlement. The controversial software was used on discs covering 52 artists. Thanks to RTV71, DamnedIfIknow and Hypnosis4U2NV for letting us know about this news:
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Manhattan federal judge Naomi Buchwald finalized the agreement -- which received temporary approval in January -- that stemmed from the music company's use of controversial technology aimed at stopping illegal copying of music on CDs. The lawsuit against Sony BMG alleged that the technology, known as XCP or Media Max, left computers vulnerable to hackers and allowed the company to track listening habits. |
Despite the widespread publicity of this issue Sony caused, this has not stopped the record labels from trying other copy protection techniques on their discs, including a recent example by Coldplay where some consumers considered their disc 'virtually unplayable'! In fact, despite the music label's attempts to reward consumers for buying CDs such as access to hidden sections of the artist's website, these copy protection measures effectively outweigh any benefits of buying the CDs. For example, getting access to bonus tracks does little good if the consumer is prevented from transferring the CD to their iPod.
DamnedIfIknow added: File your claims here: http://www.sonybmgcdtechsettlement.com/
Source: Yahoo News - Tech
