“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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