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New Charges Against Sony's Use of Stealth Software

By Martin H. Bosworth
ConsumerAffairs.com

December 27, 2005

Sony • Sony: Dust Voids PlayStation 3 Warranty • Sony BMG Settles FTC "Rootkit" Charges • Sony BMG Settles Root-Kit Suits for $4.25 Million •: Sony BMG Settles California Case • PlayStation 3 Takes the Field • PlayStation 3 Brings Big Bucks on eBay • Court Approves Sony BMG CD Settlement • Sony Reaches Tentative Settlement in Spyware Cases • New Charges Against Sony's Use of Stealth Software • New York Joins Sony CD Investigation • Recalled Sony CDs Still On Sale • Consumer Group Sues Sony BMG • Texas Sues Sony for Violating Spyware Law • Sony Withdraws CDs With Copy-Protection Software • Sony Slammed for Hidden CD Software • Sony Loses Playstation Suit • Digital Camera Buyers Give Kodak, Sony High Marks • Sony Agrees to Stop Payola Payments to Radio Stations • Sony Playstation 2 Defective, Class Action Charges --- Complaints • Playstation 2 • Playstation 1 • Cameras, Camcorders • Computers • Computer Monitors • Computer Rebates • Home Electronics Rebates • TVs • WebTV

Just when you thought it might be safe to purchase a CD sold by Sony BMG, the electronics giant has come under fire for yet another case of secretly installing dangerous software on users' computers.

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott and the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) have filed new charges against Sony for its "MediaMax" software. Like the infamous XCP "rootkit," MediaMax is designed to limit the number of copies a user can make of a CD.

The software, developed by digital rights management (DRM) vendor SunnComm, installs itself on a user's computer without permission, sends data back to SunnComm detailing the usage of the CD, and provides no method of uninstalling or removing the software without downloading special "uninstall" applications from Sony and SunnComm.

"We keep discovering additional methods Sony used to deceive Texas consumers who thought they were simply buying music," Abbott said in a press statement. "Thousands of Texans are now potential victims of this deceptive game SONY played with consumers for its own purposes."

The EFF suit states that installing the MediaMax software can "undermine significant security protections otherwise present on computers running Windows, which are designed to prevent [others] from gaining control of your computer."

EFF estimated that there may be as 20 million CD's with the MediaMax software on the shelves, and unlike the XCP rootkit, Sony has yet to issue a recall or exchange program for them. SunnComm posted a list of recent releases that contain the software.

J. Alex Halderman, a graduate student in computer science at Princeton University and co-author of the "Freedom to Tinker" technology blog, investigated the vulnerabilities created by MediaMax, and found that the uninstaller SunnComm offered to remove the software caused even more problems.

Halderman stated that the uninstaller employed the dangerous "ActiveX" control and could enable random Web sites the user visits to download and install code on the user's machine for any purpose the site owner desired.

"The evil site could use this ability to cause severe damage, such as…erasing your hard disk," he said.

Halderman called on Sony and SunnComm to issue an updated version of the uninstaller after detecting the vulnerability.

Halderman and SunnComm have crossed swords before. In 2003, the company threatened to sue Halderman for revealing that an earlier version of the MediaMax DRM software could be circumvented by holding down the "Shift" key on a computer keyboard when first installing the CD.

Halderman's partner, Prof. Ed Felten, believes that the MediaMax software "erodes security" of computers at a basic level. "If you decline the MediaMax license agreement, and the software secretly installs itself anyway, you will face risks that you didn't choose. You won't even know that you're at risk. All of this, simply because you tried to listen to a compact disc."

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