Another week, another PR disaster for Sony.
If there’s any other news this week, it’s hard to find it among the noise created by Sony’s rootkit debacle. What could possibly be worse than a multi national corporation distributing software, without consent, on hundreds of thousands of PCs, which is then exploited by malware writers and game cheats? Quite a few things.
First up, the software that Sony released to scrub the offending software from infected PCs is itself open to exploit. Then we have hacker Dan Kaminsky hunting down stats on the rootkit. He found over 500,000 networks are infected, including the US military and government.
Public condemnation is reaching far and wide, with Wired calling for a Sony boycott, various newspapers publishing damning reports, and well-known security expert Bruce Schneier going even one step further and criticising anti-virus companies for not treating the rootkit as a threat when it was first introduced in 2004.
And now come the lawyers. Class action lawsuits are getting under way in California and New York, and civil rights group, Electronic Frontier Foundation, is also primed for legal action. Opponents of digital rights management couldn’t have asked for a better way to increase awareness among the general public.
Amid the Sony storm was another very significant piece of news. The US will retain control over the domain name system, as part of an agreement reached at the United Nations World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS). While other countries wanted a share of control, the US is now set to continue its regulatory powers.
Apple had some buzz this week, with rumours circulating about the first Intel-equipped iBook. According to Think Secret, January’s upcoming Macworld event will be the launch, with Intel’s Yonah being the likely choice of hardware. Further news on the Cupertino Cowboys is that the iPod nano screen scratching lawsuit is now spreading overseas, with Mexico and the UK joining in on the fight.
HP isn’t seeing eye-to-eye with the Blu-ray boys. The company wants to see compatibility with HD-DVD, which currently supports key technologies, like iHD (interactivity features) and Mandatory Managed Copy (the ability to make backups) included. Blu-ray isn’t biting on iHD, although it will feature Mandatory Managed Copy.
Finally, Google has given us another toy to play with. Google Analytics is a suite of free web tools that let you track multiple variables on your site. A must for webmasters: www.google.com/analytics
David Kidd Editor PC Authority
Issue: 137 | June, 2012