This is really shocking! A collegue of mine just explained to me this root-kit sony thing and I can only say I think I got it wrong because it is so unbelievably evil that I cannot think I understood it correctly: so Sony was inserting since few years a root-kit in your Windows machine just if you happened to listen any cds (also legally bought!) on the pc!
Wikipedia definition of Rootkit: A rootkit is a set of tools frequently used by an intruder after cracking a computer system. These tools are intended to conceal running processes and files or system data, which helps an intruder maintain access to a system for malicious purposes.
Sony is THE definitive cracker, they install a software on your computer without telling it to you, a software that is designed to hide itself! Sony’s executives who ordered the projects should go directly to jail, they installed on millions of computers for years a malicious software of which the computers’ owners were not informed of. This is criminal behaviour! On mass scale! For years! I’m almost sure I got it wrong. It can’t be a so madly deviated behaviour!
From CNET article:
So, let’s make this a bit more explicit. You buy a CD. You put the CD into your PC in order to enjoy your music. Sony grabs this opportunity to sneak into your house like a virus and set up camp, and it leaves the backdoor open so that Sony or any other enterprising intruder can follow and have the run of the place. If you try to kick Sony out, it trashes the place.