Friday, November 18, 2005
Pray Station
As in "Pray I don’t alter it any further".
Sony dropped the DRM software for their cds, thanks to a lawsuit in California. However, they did not recall the cds they already released, leaving thousands of computers vulnerable Microsoft has responded by issuing a security fix for the vulnerability.issued a security fix.
However the damage has already been done. Dan Kaminsky, an independent security researcher, made a statistical sample of XCP’s dialing features to Sony to create a 3-d representation of how wide-spread the root-kit install was, as seen on the image to the right. There’s a lot more red states than blue ones. The root kit has been found on Department of Homeland Security Computers. And most troubling of all is the complete silence from the virus protection companies, despite the fact that this is the very thing that thousands of customers have been paying to watch out for years. Quinn Norton at Wired asks if this is mere incompetence or corporate collusion.Undeterred by the brouhaha, Sony still looks to experiment with new draconian protection measures. One patent Sony is seeking would make Playstation games accessible only by the first device the game was played in. When the game is popped into the console, a code is read and then rendered unreadable, meaning that machine is the only one is which the game is operable.
What happens if the console breaks? What if you take a game over to a friend’s house? What about game rental companies? Resellers and second hand stores? What will this do to the large number of game purchases who buy second hand simply because $50 per game is far too high for their pocketbooks?
But that’s not all. Sony is also looking to do something similar with the Blu-Ray DVD format, the most likely candidate to replace DVD technology. One thing Sony is considering is requiring a Blu-Ray to authenticate over the internet its use each time it is accessed, in much the same way Quark was restricted. If Sony monitors any illicit or suspected illicit activity, they can then, through the internet, disable the Blu-Ray device.
Tightening their hold on media content is the surest way to lose market share. Sony, the more you tighten your grip, the more game systems will slip through your fingers.
------------------------------------------------