grrrr....

fortunately, it doesn't seem to affect me (yet), but i'm now mildly nervous about buying Sony/BMG cds. recently (last week), it came to light that one of the copy protection schemes they use behaves more like a rootkit (this is bad). i wish i could say 'to their credit' they addressed it pretty quickly once the fit hit the shan, but instead, they posted a fix that apparently when run, blue screens your PC/laptop/whatever.

now, this is WINDOWS ONLY, so you folks using Linux or Mac OS9/X are (a lot smarter than the rest of the windows users?) all set as it is targeting the biggest operating system.

so here are some (rather technical) links to look over:

• the original post by Mark Russinovich
  
• EFF nutshell of the issue, with links to the original post that brought this to light
  
• BBC coverage of the initial outcry
  
• a partial list of affected CDs
  
• start to repair the damage
  
• how to disable auto-run

as i mentioned above, it doesn't appear to affect me at the moment, but it certainly doesn't hurt that i tend to shy away from mainstream music, but it still worries me. what's next? by inserting a CD into your PC, they gain exclusive control of all data (personal, private, intimate, finances) and you forfeit any and all legal rights to that information? and your first and second born child too...