More details were revealed yesterday as to how SonyBMG plan to replace all those CDs out there which contain that dodgy anti-piracy software which is in danger of buggering up the computers of the music fans who put them in their PC.
As previously reported, the so call 'rootkit software' used by SonyBMG to stop consumers from illegally copying and sharing music off the CDs, has become increasingly controversial ever since software programmer Mark Russinovich pointed out that the piracy protection technology worked like a computer virus, and could potentially harm the computers it was installed on. As the software automatically installs itself when CDs carrying it are played on a PC, and because it is more or less impossible to uninstall without downloading a separate bit of software, this presented the major record company with a PR nightmare and the possibility of both civil and criminal legal proceedings.
Recognising the potential crisis Russinovich's comments could cause, SonyBMG quickly announced that they had ceased using the software. Now they have asked retailers to remove the 52 titles that carry the software, and to help them stage a massive recall campaign which will allow consumers to go to their local record shop and swap any CDs carrying rootkit technology for a version of the same album without copy protection. SonyBMG are busy re-pressing all affected albums and have told retailers they will refund them for any returned CDs carrying the software - sealed or opened.
The full letter sent out to retailers (in the US, at least) is included at the bottom of today's Daily, as is the list of the 52 albums that SonyBMG have confirmed contain the offending software. It remains to be seen if these considerable and costly efforts to rectify the rootkit problem will help the major fight off the various civil lawsuits (and, in Italy, potential criminal proceedings) that revelations about the software have initiated. Given how many PCs could now be infected with the software, if a court was to rule that affected customers should receive compensation the major could face some very large bills.