“Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott expanded his lawsuit against Sony BMG Music Entertainment on Wednesday, alleging that a second form of anti-piracy technology used by the label violates the state’s spyware and deceptive trade practices laws,” The Associated Press reports. “Abbott sued Sony BMG in November, saying the world’s second-largest music label surreptitiously included spyware on millions of CDs through technology known as XCP. That technology, included on 52 Sony BMG titles, could leave computers vulnerable to hackers, he said.”
AP reports, “The new allegations involve an unrelated CD copy-protection technology known as MediaMax, which was loaded on 27 Sony BMG titles, including Alicia Keys’ ‘Unplugged’ and Cassidy’s ‘I’m a Hustla.’ ‘We keep discovering additional methods Sony used to deceive Texas consumers who thought they were simply buying music,’ Abbott said in a statement. BMG officials said in a statement that they are working with Abbott’s office and believe they can prove they have responded appropriately to his concerns… The state can recover up to $100,000 in damages for each violation of the spyware law and $20,000 in damages for each violation of the deceptive trade practices law. Individuals whose computers were affected by the anti-piracy technology also can recover damages. Abbott has said there were at least thousands of violations, and that any money recovered by the state would go to Texas’ general revenue fund.”
Full article here.
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Is Texas gonna actually be good for something for a change? Sweet!
Sony could still get sued for using open source code (LAME) in their DRM software without attributing it to the original copyright holders. So they violated copyright to (supposedly) protect their copyright.
I might die laughing if that actually happens.
they’ll execute you as soon as look at you!
Bad day for Sony!
It’s amazing that this is happening in Texas, a state where anything against big business is viewed as unamerican and dangerous to the economy. I am glad to see they are leading the charge on this issue. Maybe states like CA and NY that have a longer history of protecting consumer rights will pursue similar measures. All these states combined could produce results like the EU suits against MS that while small for the redmond giant would be serious problems for Sony. I woner how much longer sony will be around. A chronic failure to innovate or produce anything a consumer wants other than the playstation department, which is expected to lose hundreds of millions over the next few years, is making for a very bad forecast.
Here’s what I think happened.
{Overheard}
Someone close to Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott’s office said, “Those Sony CDs are putting a virus on PCs! What retard at Sony would think of doing such a thing?!”
“Retard! Did someone say there’s a retard at Sony? Gather the possie boys, there’s gunna be a hangin’. We’re gunna exacute – another retard!?”
No?
Well, maybe a rich oil guy didn’t like the Sony virus on his PC and he made a call to his govener buddy. Add your own Texas style derogatory anti-Japanese remarks here “…………”
Regardless, it’s pretty unusual for the Texas
This is 1 state, where are the others ?? And how the bpycott going ??
How Italy? Are they still sueing?
How ’bout the janitor at Microsoft?
When will it stop? Hopefully never…..this should be carried over to all others in the industry with a vengence.
Lets stick it to them hard
^ Listen up, wwjdwmsddfgexl!%txk;
Anytime you wanna venture down to ol’ Texas you make sure’n let me know, hoss. I promise I’ll be there at the train station just waitin’ ta pick you up . . . ‘n show you around a little.
Buttnut.
We gonna get’em Japs.
Of course we’re also going to protect the American monopoly on worldwide operating systems by suing the makers of rootkits and not the OS company that makes rootkits an issue.
SONY barbecue at my place. Moooo.
Texas is the land of dung (what, you think those Longhorns don’t crap all over the place?) and abandoned downtown buildings (Austin, Dallas).
Oh, and of course, the place that Dell proudly calls home.
Why don’t you recede from the union already?
Seriously, though, I think Dallas, Houston, San Antonio and Austin are wonderful cities…their downtowns leave a lot to be desired, but all of them are working hard to bring population back to the city centers. Props to them for that.
And to come back to the topic: even if everything else about Texas sucked, which it doesn’t, they get mad props for suing the heck out of Sony on this. When will other states join them?
MDN word: john as in “Where do all those cows and longhorns go to the john?”
“Texas expands . . “
And swallows Oklahoma whole. The belch afterwards could be heard from Mexico to Argentina scaring many in the southern hemisphere. Oil well derricks and millions of cattle skeletons are expected to appear in the Gulf of Mexico over the next few days as Texas expels its waste.
Don’t beat on Texas too hard – there’s not a state in the US that doesn’t have enough warts to run a pig off.
As for the lawsuit, it is probably going to be one of the most important acts that protect the consumers against this type of DRM in the future.
Dubya is gonna give Sony a pardon. Can’t let the makers of his favorite toy (iPod) suffer!
The views that Texas saying anything against big business is not accepted here are wrong. The views showing surprise about Texas protecting it’s consumers are wrong.
Texas cares about people and laws. We don’t do bone-headed things to drive business out of our state because we like to have jobs. We have a long history of consumer activism (Marvin Zindler is the original watchdog) and, this being Texas, we will happily prosecute any company that needs it.
Like AG Abbott said, Sony violated Texas law. That’s pretty easy to understand. The law is in place to protect consumers and their computers. That’s pretty easy to understand.
I have shared on more than one occasion that I am a proud Texan from a small town near Houston (you never have to ask a Texan where he’s from). I know there are many people who don’t like Texas and what we represent.
That’s great. We love knowing where we stand and who we stand with.
The only problem with Texas I can see from here is that too many people in Texas aren’t from Texas. I know what Northern Creep means.
But, Texas is like the US in one way. I could live the rest of my life in Japan, marry, raise a family, and be the most pro-Japan guy in the world. I would never (could never) be Japanese. But anyone who works hard enough and shares the ideals of the US can someday be an American.
Well, anyone who shares what Texas stands for can come and be welcome. You may never get to call yourself a Native Texan, but we can’t all be born that lucky, can we?
I work with a man who came here from New Jersey and he should have been born here. He is a good man with a strong sense of right and wrong and great sense of humor who doesn’t take himself too seriously. His shame is only a trick of fate.
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Texas is a big, big place (as you all know, it’s the biggest state in the union) and we still have lots of room. If anybody wants to come down, enjoy your stay. If you don’t like the way we do things (like executing murderous monsters and having more sympathy for the victims, or finding a way for companies and their employees to both exist in our towns and cities, or enjoying the best parts of many different cultures without calling out the diversity police and making it mandatory) leave.
That’s pretty simple, right? Common sense and politesse will get you far in Texas. Be kind to old people, tip your hat and say ma’am to a lady (to a True Texan a lady is defined as any female over the age of 14, the high-school girl working the Mickey D’s drive-thru is ma’am when I’m there), sympathize with the victims of violent crime while making sure the criminals pay…
I just don’t see how someone could find fault with these beliefs. Any Native Texans see it differently?
Note* Any posts on this site against Texas will be chalked up to jealousy and ignorance.
~M
PS- I see lots bumper-stickers that say “I wasn’t born in Texas, but I got here as fast as I could!” I love those.
I’ve been following the trail of BS comin’ out the statehouse for a long spell now, and I’m still scratchin’ my head over this one. Seriously, I didn’t think they even knew what a rootkit was. Where’s the payoff for Abbott? What’s the motivation? Must have something to do with porn.
We’re real good at posing as thirteen year-old girls in chatrooms in Texas law enforcement circles, but that all flows from our long history of big hair and bigger sin. Lets not forget that plastic t*ts came from Houston…
Sorry, I got nuthin’
MDN: mind–“y’all mind if I make me a copy of this CD on your computer?”
If ya heart ain’t in Texas get ya @ss out.
whatever