Sony sued for MediaMax DRM (and XCP)
while almost everything is said about the Sony XCP DRM during the recent weeks, now the attention is turning towards their older protection solution: The MediaMax by SunnComm. Yesterday two more lawsuits were filed against Sony by Texas Attorney General and the EFF.
The most interesting thing about these lawsuits is that the focus is definitely on MediaMax, rather than the XCP. This may be a very smart move indeed and Sony has been pulling the XCP from the market, and publishing the list of discs infected with the XCP protection. While Sony has been quick pulling the XCP, they are still standing strongly behind the MediaMax protection. However, the EFF sees MediaMax as an equally serious threat and a violation of consumers’ rights.
The MediaMax software, which is included on over 20 million Sony BMG CDs, has different, but similarly troubling problems. It installs on the users’ computers even if they click “no” on the EULA, and does not include a way to uninstall the program. The software transmits data about users to SunnComm through an Internet connection whenever purchasers listen to CDs, allowing the company to track listening habits — even though the EULA states that the software will not be used to collect personal information and SunnComm’s website says “no information is ever collected about you our your computer.”
If users repeatedly request an uninstaller for the MediaMax software, they are eventually provided one. But they first have to provide more personally identifying information. Worse, security researchers recently determined that SunnComm’s uninstaller creates significant security risks for users, as the XCP uninstaller did.
Source: EFF
