crowbelle's Diaryland Diary

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Be Warned, Be Aware!

Be Warned and Be Aware!

I am not a computer geek. Nor am I very savvy when it comes to anything related to computers. I have one and I try my hardest to keep it free from viruses and spyware, etc. I run antivirus programs on it daily, and others a few times a week. It's a pain but I use my computer for work and don't need it to be infected with someone else's malicious bugs.

A word to the wise here.

I don't speak geek-ese. So I'll try to explain it for any of you who don't know what this is all about.

The Sony BMG music company that makes CDs has put some kind of nasty software on some of its CDs that, when they are played on your computer, will infect your system to the point that it may crash completely. Supposedly this software is so that we can't copy the CDs illegally.

I had read about this several weeks or months ago. I looked on some of my CDs and saw they were produced by Sony BMG, and I made sure I never put them into my computer for playing. I only play them on my separate CD player here and am not using my computer anymore to play music. I would recommend you all do something similar if you want to keep control of your own computer system.

What brought this subject to my attention again was after I had ordered a classical music CD from amazon.com recently, I heard from amazon.com by e-mail. I hadn't checked to see who produced the CD I'd ordered, but apparently it was Sony BMG Music. Well, I got the e-mail from amazon.com today telling me that the CD I'd ordered had that malicious awful software on it (the "rootkit" thing) and that if I were to play it on my computer, I would need to get "the patch" to fix everything (supposedly), or suffer the consequences.

Here is what amazon wrote:

Greetings from Amazon.com.
We have recently learned that Sony announced a security vulnerability issue with CDs that have SunnComm copy protection technology. Sony has made a software upgrade and uninstall option available on their website to correct the security issue. Affected items include the following:
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Artist: XXX
Title: YYY ZZZ
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Our records indicate that you have purchased the above item through the Amazon.com website and are therefore affected by this announcement.
Information regarding the Sony announcement and available courses of action can be found here:
http://www.sonybmg.com/indexmediamax.html
If you purchased this item as a gift for someone, please notify the recipient immediately and provide them with information regarding the Sony announcement. We regret the inconvenience this issue has caused you but trust you will understand that the safety of our customers is our highest priority.
Thanks again for shopping at Amazon.com.
Sincerely,
Customer Service, Amazon.com

[Below is from that FAQ site I linked to above above]:

"What is a rootkit? Isn't that something that virus writers use?

A rootkit is a powerful piece of software that takes over control of a computer at the most fundamental level. In computer terms, it establishes "root" access, which is similar to administrative access, instead of access for just an ordinary user. It can potentially prevent a computer user from detecting its presence or from performing certain tasks on their own PC.

Like most computing tools, this is not intrinsically a bad thing, but can be abused. Virus writers use these tools to help take over computers and hide the presence of their work."

I don't trust that the patch fixes it, but that's just me. I'm a born skeptic! I'd rather not HAVE to use it in the first place.

I don't trust Sony BMG anymore.

I also heard on the radio not long ago, on this same subject, that Sony BMG had promised they would withdraw all those CDs from stores that had this malicious software on it... (yeah, right!), and they hadn't, at all! They were still selling them like hotcakes!

You can find out more about this by going to Google and searching around the web yourselves. You may get more information than I have included here and in the site I have linked to above, but it all boils down to the fact that we are being manipulated by mean-spirited and possibly criminally-intentioned people, and it's really up to each one of us to protect ourselves. No one is going to do it for us.

So just be warned and be aware, is all I'm saying.

Bex

2:32 pm - 04 January 2006

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