Hey, You Got Your DRM In My Spyware!
Here are two things that probably piss all of us off converging in one bizarre moment.First, Blizzard is running a progam called "The Warden" on your system while you play World of Warcraft that checks currently running processes to detect cheaters. That means it's examining all processes, not just your World of Warcraft application. And it can read the titles of all open windows on your desktop. If anything matches a known cheat, then the program "phones home" to Blizzard to make a report.
To me, that's spyware. Maybe it has noble goals (to prevent cheating), but it's still spyware as far as I'm concerned.
Second, here's a look at the crap Sony's trying to pull in the name of digital rights management (from Security Focus):
This week, two research groups independently and separately reported that music giant Sony BMG has used software hiding techniques more commonly found in rootkits to prevent removal of the company's copy protection software. A rootkit is software that hides its presence on a computer while controlling critical system functions...
This crapware will get installed on your PC if you want to play a copy-protected Sony CD. Want to uninstall it? Can't, really. Nicely done, asshats.
That's the kind of bullshit that evil people look at at go "Now that's evil." Now that Sony's been found out, there's going to be a backlash over this, and I hope it's huge. And that's why I'd like to see it mandatory that if something is going to get installed on your system, the program's function must be explained in clear, readable English, not a ten-page licensing agreement.
Because of the outrage over this, Sony suddenly released an application that will remove all this slime from your system. It never would have been released if someone hadn't been smart enough to figure out what they were doing, though, because until somebody caught them, they wouldn't even admit to what was going on.
If you see the phrase "Content Protected and Enhanced" on a CD, run like hell. That's code for "rootkit." And if you need the removal application, go here:
http://cp.sonybmg.com/xcp/english/updates.html. There's some controversy over whether this actually removes the program or just makes it visible, though, and I don't have the answer.
The whole episode just screams "class action lawsuit."
So far, just a typical rambling post from me, right? Well, here's where it gets very weird. Check this out from Security Focus
(http://www.securityfocus.com/brief/34):
World of Warcraft hackers have confirmed that the hiding capabilities of Sony BMG's content protection software can make tools made for cheating in the online world impossible to detect. The software--deemed a rootkit by many security experts--is shipped with tens of thousands of the record company's music titles.
Welcome to Bizarro World. Plenty of tables and no waiting.
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