Sony's rootkit 'Hot Coffee'
Tags:Sony rootkit GTA Grand Theft Auto Hot Coffee ITunes


Sony is probably one of the biggest backers for Take Two, and GTA in particular. Every GTA game that has come out so far, debuted on a Sony System. So it could be said that Sony has a pretty close relationship with those guys.

It could also be said that Rockstar made a big mistake when it left critically dangerous code (now called 'Hot Coffee') in its game. When they put the Hot Coffee minigame in there, they took out the reference to it, thus removing it in practice without removing it in fact.

Now, in an odd moment of serendipity, it looks like Sony has done the same thing with their DRM software.

It turns out that the (now infamous) Sony rootkit employs code which came from DVD Jon, and was used to circumvent Apple's DRM software. The code from DVD Jon was released under the GPL, which means that in this case, Sony would have to publish the fact that they used this code.

Now, I'm not going to go after them because they broke copyright with their rootkit. That ground has already been covered. What I find funny is the news today about what they're doing with it.

It turns out that Sony had code that would allow ITunes to play their music, but only on the one computer. Of course, that meant hacking the Apple DRM in order to do it.

So, the story of the day would have been "Sony breaks copyrights twice in order to protect their copyrights". But that isn't the story at all. Because Sony took that function out.

Possibly at the last minute, Sony removed the call to their "ITunes enabling" code, thus leaving the functionality out, but not actually removing that code.

So, much like the way Rockstar accidentally leaked a "Hot Coffee" game, now Sony is accidentally leaking a "Hack ITunes" game.

Honestly, what Sony is doing behind our backs really makes the whole "Hot Coffee" scandal seem timid, sad, and tame.

Now, surely Hillary Clinton and all the anti-videogame people will come screaming for blood from people who actually do harm to peoples computers, data, privacy, and content. I'm just waiting to hear them start investigations of Sony.

Any minute now. . .
- posted by BrandG @ 9:06 PM