Usil,
Why don't you post your petition on Mark Russinovich's SysInternals.com website. Here is the link.
http://www.sysinternals.com/blog/200...ecloaking.html
Linda
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Usil,
Why don't you post your petition on Mark Russinovich's SysInternals.com website. Here is the link.
http://www.sysinternals.com/blog/200...ecloaking.html
Linda
When it comes to music and Sony, I stopped supporting them way back when I had my NW something mp3 player, one of the first ones they made only it DIDN"T play mp3's, it was there stupid proprietary atrac and when I upgraded to Windows XP, the device would not work with it.
Up till now I swore by all other sony products, DVD players/burners, CD burners, home theatre equipment, satellite, almost everything. After this, I think I will switch my focus more towards lite-on, plextor, denon, etc...
Unfortunately, I've got several sony lcd monitors and all the drives in my computer are sony. Time to upgrade!
Can you sign more than one http://www.petitiononline.com/bcsony/petition.htmlQuote:
Originally Posted by Ridgerunr
It just keeps getting worse and worse, it would appear that it "phones home" as well:
http://www.sysinternals.com/blog/200...ecloaking.html
And the first lawsuit has started in Italy:
http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=27508
I just did that today. 800 comments though, not many people will read that far. :rolleyes:Quote:
Originally Posted by LindaHewitt
Hmm, I looked for a Sony petition before I made mine and didn't find one. I am wondering if that came after mine, but just has a lot more followers.Quote:
Originally Posted by Nix
In any case, no harm in keeping my petition, but I will also sign the other one too of course. I have posted the link to my petition on a few boards today.
An operating system should NEVER allow ANYTHING of this nature (stealth, hidden processes) to install to begin with. Just another example of the @$$inine nature of M$'s approach to things.
From an OS design perspective, it is actually simple to disallow any such activity. In fact, the only reason such a loophole would exist would be for the OS manufacturer to be able to hide some of their own stuff from the user, which is also offensive. This "philosophy" dates back to the classic arguments about M$ having hidden methods of talking to the OS that they don't reveal to other licensed partners, so that M$ can maintain a competitive advantage in application development. It just took this long for it to become really obvious to the rest of us just how insidious this approach can be.
It just really chaps me!
Well I don't think MS are entirely at fault here, after all rootkits were first implemented on Unix systems, that are supposedly so secure. But as I said earlier, Vista will have this protection built in, so MS are getting there.
This is another interesting article - the response from First 4 Internet, and showing just what crap programmers they are:
http://www.sysinternals.com/blog/200...-internet.html
Just signed usil's petition. I hope everyone here will do the same. No more Sony for me!
www.techworld.com : the UK's infrastructure & network knowledge centre
Sony faces police investigation into DRM code
XCP furore continues.
Robert McMillan, IDG News Service
08 November 2005
Sony may be investigated by Italian police over its controversial copy protection software.
An Italian digital rights organization has taken the first step toward possible criminal charges over the XCP software which, it was recently discovered, cloaks itself on users' computers and communicates with Sony servers over the Internet.
The group, calling itself the ALCEI-EFI (Association for Freedom in Electronic Interactive Communications - Electronic Frontiers Italy), filed a complaint about Sony's software with the head of Italy's cyber-crime investigation unit, Colonel Umberto Rapetto of the Guardia di Finanza.
The complaint alleges that XCP violates a number of Italy's computer security laws by causing damage to users' systems and by acting in the same way as malicious software, according to Andrea Monti, chair of the ALCEI-EFI. "What Sony did qualifies as a criminal offense under Italian law," he said.
Should police determine that a crime has been committed, prosecutors will be required to begin criminal proceedings against Sony, Monti said.
XCP is used on about 20 of the company's music titles and prohibits Windows users from making more than three copies of any XCP-protected CD. It has been widely criticized since it was revealed the software uses many of the same techniques as spyware and computer viruses to disguise its existence. XCP's developer, a UK company called First 4 Internet said the techniques were necessary in order to prevent illegal copiers from circumventing the digital rights management (DRM) software, but critics say First 4 has gone too far and that the product may be a security risk.
And confirming its new status, Computer Associates yesterday reclassified Sony's software as spyware and will begin searching for and removing XCP with its anti-spyware software.
Even a software patch released by Sony last week to decloak the hidden digital rights management software counts as spyware.
Linda
;) :rolleyes: :cool:
That is awesome! Would be great if the other Anti-Spyware vendors do the same. It would give a certain degree more legitimacy to the fight against Sony. Good move by CA.Quote:
Originally Posted by LindaHewitt
I wish someone with more influence than myself would stage a well-organized and well-publicized boycott of all Sony products and services. If we could manage to get tens, or hundreds, of thousands of people to stop buying Sony products and services (from movies to music to tv's to games to... you get the idea), stop going to Sony-run theaters, stop buying tickets to Sony movies, etc., that would send a clear message to Sony and to other companies that you know have been considering this type of crap, but are waiting to see if the opportunity costs outweigh whatever benefits they perceive this as bringing them.
The alternative is that some of us complain (sorry, I'll keep it edited out and avoid it in the future) and moan in forums and some articles get written, like the ones on IDG and CNET; but nothing hurts their bottom line enough to dissuade them and their competitors from continuing onwards in this direction of "doing business."
aedh
Here is the Computer Associates announcement:
http://blogs.zdnet.com/Spyware/index.php?p=698
I performed a Google search on "Sony rootkit" and I got 3,550,000 links. There is a firestorm of protest. Here are the latest news articles on this issue.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/1109/p14s01-stct.html
http://news.zdnet.co.uk/0,39020330,39235702,00.htm
http://www.networkworld.com/community/?q=node/3426
Cheers,
Linda
;) :rolleyes: :cool:
This is outrageous!
Sony's Second 'Rootkit' DRM Patch Doesn't Hush Critics
:mad:Quote:
"Most people don't know what a rootkit is, so why should they care about it," Thomas Hesse, president of Sony BMG's global digital business, said in an interview with National Public Radio on Friday.
The only thing Sony understands is the bottom line and when the buying public boycotts all Sony products..... they will re-assess their actions and methods. Why buy anything from a company that disses their customers..:mad:
....and with the power of the internet a world wide boycott should be attainable.
my 2 cents.
Except I'd go further than that. It happens to have been Sony/BMG that got caught with their pants down on this occasion, but all the big labels are at it. From what I've seen so far, every single DRM scheme that's been tried so far is bad in some way or another. And who wants a load of dubiously written software installed just so you can play a CD anyway? What happens if you have a collection of 100 CD's and you need 100 different players installed? I think if it won't play in your media player of choice then it isn't worth having, and I'm all in favour of boycotting all DRM infected discs (they shouldn't be called CD's, they don't conform to the Red Book standard).
Agreed SuperSparks.
By the way, for those that bought a Sony CD, if you press shift after putting the CD in (which cancels the autorun feature of the CD-ROM), you can play the CD on any media player you like.
Lawsuits proceed against Sony / "anti-piracy" software
http://blogs.washingtonpost.com/secu...ny_lawsui.html
More info:
http://www.sysinternals.com/Blog/
Copyright laws provide for "fair use"
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml
Cheers,
Linda
This just gets better and better:
Now the Legalese Rootkit: Sony-BMG's EULA
November 09, 2005
If you thought XCP "rootkit" copy-protection on Sony-BMG CDs was bad, perhaps you'd better read the 3,000 word (!) end-user license agreement (aka "EULA") that comes with all these CDs.
First, a baseline. When you buy a regular CD, you own it. You do not "license" it. You own it outright. You're allowed to do anything with it you like, so long as you don't violate one of the exclusive rights reserved to the copyright owner. So you can play the CD at your next dinner party (copyright owners get no rights over private performances), you can loan it to a friend (thanks to the "first sale" doctrine), or make a copy for use on your iPod (thanks to "fair use"). Every use that falls outside the limited exclusive rights of the copyright owner belongs to you, the owner of the CD.
Now compare that baseline with the world according to the Sony-BMG EULA, which applies to any digital copies you make of the music on the CD:
- If your house gets burgled, you have to delete all your music from your laptop when you get home. That's because the EULA says that your rights to any copies terminate as soon as you no longer possess the original CD.
- You can't keep your music on any computers at work. The EULA only gives you the right to put copies on a "personal home computer system owned by you..."
<rest snipped>
Read the rest of this article at http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/archives/004145.php
Here's even more good news...
http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,14773443
It didn't take the bad guys long to exploit the rootkit :mad:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/11...ny_drm_trojan/
http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=27608
Also in The Register: Here come the cavalry.... :D
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/11..._drm_unmasked/
Regarding the malware taking advantage of the rootkit intrusion: If anyone can prove conclusively that Sony's breach of individual PC security allowed this stuff inside, Sony is toast. If anyone owns stock in them, sell now.
....Especially if Sophos are at the head of matters, there's gonna be war, the last bit (Above) is surprising. :rolleyes:Quote:
Sophos's tool will remove this cloaking behaviour but will not remove the software components installed by Sony-BMG, the deletion of which might cause system instability. But this very cloaking means it may not be obvious to users that they need the tool. Around 20 CDs from Sony-BMG which have shipped an estimated 2m copies around the world feature the controversial DRM technology, developed by UK security developer First4Internet. Sophos obtained advice from First4Internet in developing its tool.
We wanted to ask First4Internet and Sony-BMG what they intended to do to make sure their copy-protection technology wasn't abused by virus writers but neither returned our calls this afternoon
Liam
And it's listed at Etrust now: http://www3.ca.com/securityadvisor/p...x?id=453096362
LiamQuote:
XCP.Sony.Rootkit Extended Copy Protection(XCP) is Digital Rights Management (DRM) software manufactured by First4Internet, a UK company. This particular variant of XCP is licensed and bundled by Sony BMG, and is reportedly distributed on more than 2 million Sony BMG Audio CDs. This software is intended to stop casual CD piracy. Toward this end, the software is designed to prevent protected CDs being played with anything other than an included Media Player, Music Player.
Category: Trojan....
Another link:
Virus & Trojan software has surfaced exploiting the rootkit loophole.
http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/interne...eut/index.html
Yes EMI have been using DRM protection for a while although they say they don't use rootkit http://news.com.com/EMI+We+dont+use+...3-5937108.html and of interest in that article is the last paragraphQuote:
Originally Posted by SuperSparks
which I think will be the final verdict.Quote:
Although Sony's use of rootkits has sparked an outcry, users would find it difficult to sue Sony in the U.K., even if their computer was damaged by its copy-restriction software, according to legal experts.
It will be in the public eye for a few months and then all just disappear, just like the group action who were suing of the fact that their hard drive did not contain the actual stated capacity.
Not that I'm condoning it or anything, I had my say last year http://discussions.virtualdr.com/sho...d.php?t=169323
The hard drive case never had a leg to stand on, as the hard drive makers are using the international ISO standard definition of a gigabyte, which seems a pretty cast iron defence to me. This is rather different I think, becuase by virtually any definition this is malware, and was installed by stealth.
From what I've read, the rootkit CD's are not sold in the UK, so we'll never know whether people could sue Sony. But there have been successful criminal prosecutions under the Computer Misuse Act for doing less than Sony have done in this case, and I notice those experts aren't saying anything about that, only whether users could sue. Maybe that's why they didn't put the rootkit on UK discs.
I think that the subset of sony product users it affects will be quite small realtively.
ie you have to purchase one of these DRM cds and install the software to be affected.
For all those end user of Sony products such as TV, Hifi systems, VCR, PlayStation 1 & 2, Movies, DVD Players, Video Cameras, CD Walkman, Cassette Walkman, Minidisc Walkman etc but never use a computer to listen to CDs there will no affect and the majority of them would probably not even be aware of the hoo haa that's going on.
I guess the fact that it was stealthily installed is the issue, not the fact that it was installed as there are a billion zillion other programs out there that install adware / malware.
Anyway I reckon Sony will either just make some out of court settlement or just get away with it completely, just like OJ and Michael Jackson.
And just like my prediction in the second post on this thread http://discussions.virtualdr.com/sho...d.php?t=184756 re MJ winning, you heard it here first on VDr. ;)
To quote Flavor Flav of Public EnemyQuote:
Fight the power
We've got to Fight the powers that be
2 million of those CDs were sold by Sony. Not that small, IMO.Quote:
Originally Posted by Nix
It just keeps getting worse and worse, if this is true then it shows unbelievable arrogance:
The full article is here:Quote:
However, Computer Associates, which has a security division, said on Monday it had found further security risks in the Sony software and was releasing a tool to uninstall it directly.
According to Computer Associates, the Sony software makes itself a default media player on a computer after it is installed. The software then reports back the user's Internet address and identifies which CDs are played on that computer. Intentionally or not, the software also seems to damage a computer's ability to "rip" clean copies of MP3s from non-copy protected CDs, the security company said.
"It will effectively insert pseudo-random noise into a file so that it becomes less listenable," said Sam Curry, a Computer Associates vice president. "What's disturbing about this is the lack of notice, the lack of consent, and the lack of an easy removal tool."
http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/securit...9221702,00.htm
Here is a link to the Electronic Frontier Foundation that lists a number of the Sony CDs that have the rootkit on it. It also tells you how to spot the CDs that have this crap in them.
http://www.eff.org/news/archives/2005_11.php#004146
Doc
This was just posted at http://blogs.chron.com/techblog/.
Sony halting manufacture of CDs with rootkit
Cheers,Quote:
It may be too little too late, but Sony says it's halting manufacture of CDs with copy protection hidden by a rootkit, the Associated Press reports:
Sony defended its right to prevent customers from illegally copying music but said it will halt manufacturing CDs with the "XCP" technology as a precautionary measure. "We also intend to re-examine all aspects of our content protection initiative to be sure that it continues to meet our goals of security and ease of consumer use," the company said in a statement.
The software renders invisible files with names that include a certain combination of letters, which security experts warned could be used by the author of a virus or Trojan to infect Windows-based PCs.
The CEO of First 4 Internet, the company that makes the software, called the threat "theoretical," but yesterday several antivirus companies reported a Trojan that exploits the rootkit had been released.
A list of the CDs with the vulnerable software is here.
This is what Sony should have done when the rootkit was first discovered and written about on Mark Russinovich's Sysinternals blog.
The next step: Sony needs to offer anyone who bought the affected CDs a free replacement that does not include the DRM software.
Linda
;) :rolleyes: :cool:
It seems that Sony has a real mess on its hands. Below is a copy of the email that I just sent via the Sony website.
I guess I won't be buying any Sony products, music or electronics, for the forseeable future. What is with this rootkit installed without a users knowledge that they then have to have PERMISSION to remove from THEIR OWN COMPUTERS? HOW DARE YOU? Because it is done in the name of digital rights management does not make it acceptable. The record industry powers that be just don't seem to get it, do they? The reason that the music industry is dying is because of the predatory attitudes toward music consumers in the name of protecting "intellectual property". THe reason is NOT, I repeat, NOT, because of illegal file sharing. You tried to sneak malware in on our computers, then got caught. You have really shot your yourself in the foot this time haven't you and now have a public relations disaster on your hands. GOOD! We can hope that you will learn from it and stop treating your customers like sh*t.
From the David Coursey Report:
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,1884002,00.asp
Cheers,Quote:
Sony Could Use Some Humanitarian Advice
November 8, 2005
By David Coursey
At the risk of appearing Pollyanna-esque and despite the inherent danger of wading into the rootkit battle, I'd like to introduce Sony Corp. to a way of doing business that is apparently new to them, at least if their handling of digital rights management is any indication. What I am referring to is an amazingly simple ethical test that has been around since 1932.
Your father or grandfather may have heard about it, though it's gone out of fashion in recent years.
That could explain how Sony is treating its customers, or maybe it's just that technology people consider themselves too much above their customers to worry about non-geeky things like ethical business practices.
So, for Sony's benefit, I present:
The Rotary Four-Way Test, a 24-word statement that, if followed, would make our business dealings must more straightforward and dramatically improve the relationship between buyer and seller. Rotary is a service organization with chapters in 166 countries.
The test consists of four questions:
"Of the things we think, say or do:
1. Is it the TRUTH?
2. Is it FAIR to all concerned?
3. Will it build GOODWILL and BETTER FRIENDSHIPS?
4. Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned?"
If you can honestly answer "yes" to all those questions, you're probably doing the right thing.
In the case of Sony's rootkit problems, the Four-Way Test applies like this:
Is it the truth?
I am not sure Sony is lying, but it's not obvious they are telling the truth, either.
One of the problems with technical issues, like playing with the guts of an operating system, is that nuance gets lost when it's explained in business English.
Sony needs to answer all of the allegations against it and do so fully and candidly. I think if the company did this, Sony's actions would make more sense.
We might not like them any more, but we could at least have a meaningful dialog.
Is it fair to all concerned?
This is a tough one. There is no wide agreement on what "fair use" is, so digital rights management may never get all sides to agree as to what's fair.
Click here to read more about Sony fighting criticism from security analysts.
But, Sony, more than most entertainment companies, seems to believe its customers have no rights. The next two questions put fairness into perspective.
Will it build goodwill and better friendships?
If your DRM scheme prevents customers from doing reasonable things with the content they purchase, then it's not building goodwill and friendships.
Apple's handling of rights for its iTunes Music Store customers isn't perfect, but it's made more friends than enemies.
It difficult to see how anything that secretly munges with the OS kernel can possibly build goodwill and friendships, nor could anything that is hard to uninstall, hidden from customers, or spies on customers.
If this is all such reasonable stuff, why is Sony not upfront about it?
Is it beneficial to all concerned?
This is a hard one. Limiting piracy is in everyone's best interest, though high prices for music and entertainment obviously limit their availability and encourage people to steal content.
At the same time, if this has some benefit to consumers, perhaps Sony can explain. I don't think most consumers support stealing, but they also don't support insensitive, greedy entertainment companies are who behaving badly because the world is changing and they don't know what to do.
Sony, of course, has the further disadvantage of being the single most arrogant company I have ever dealt with.
In my experience, and that of other people I know, Sony has been high-handed, arrogant, and treats even mild criticism as evidence of major disrespect.
So it's somehow not surprising that the company would find itself in a mess like this, wriggling around in a manner that only makes it look worse.
In offering Rotary's Four-Way test, I am giving Sony execs an ethical standard to compare with their actions.
While all of us fall short in our dealings at least occasionally, Sony is so far off-track that I felt a humanitarian duty to point them in the proper direction. I hope they appreciate it, but I won't be waiting for flowers.
Contributing editor David Coursey has spent two decades writing about hardware, software and communications for business customers. He can be reached at [email protected].
Linda
;) :rolleyes: :cool:
Everyone I discuss this with at work just gives me a blank look and have no idea what I'm talking about.Quote:
Originally Posted by rednek tek
I've also spoken with about 40 or so family and friends over the last few days and they too have no clue.
So I think it's getting more hype on the net and amongst computer help forums especially Adware / Malware / Virus than it is the general public arena.
Even doing a search for SONY in google doesn't get a rootkit hit until the third link on second page which is Mark's Sysinternals blog (if you exclude the news links at the top of the first page) and then no more by the end of page 5.
Also on the Wikipedia page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony it shows that in 2002 Sony got sued over the dual shock controller and paid out almost US$91 million.and I don't think that affected the sale of PS1 or PS2 or any other Sony product.Quote:
Legal
In 2002, Sony Computer Entertainment America, marketer of the popular PlayStation game consoles, was sued by Immersion Corp. of San Jose, California which claimed that Sony's PlayStation "Dual Shock" controllers infringed on Immersion's patents. In 2004 a federal jury agreed with Immersion, awarding the company US$82 million in damages. A U.S. district court judge ruled on the matter in March, 2005 and not only agreed with the federal jury's ruling but also added another US$8.7 million in damages.
In fact from http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...2005Mar28.htmlSo I think we'll probably see a similar result for the rootkit issue. :confused: :confused:Quote:
Whatever happens, analysts were mostly predicting negligible impact on Sony's business as a result of the lawsuit.
"This is not going to have any impact on Sony's ability to sell PlayStation 2s to consumers," said Schelley Olhava, an analyst at IDC. "Immersion just wants to get paid or compensated for technology Sony used without paying for it."
"It's a joke," said Michael Pachter, an analyst at Wedbush Morgan Securities Inc. Even if Sony ends up having to pay Immersion, he said, "We're talking a dollar or two in royalties per PlayStation. Who cares?"
Nix,
I just did a Google search on "Sony rootkit" and got 5,290,000 hits. In terms of the general public, this issue has not been on TV or any of the mass media outlets. I think this will change as the lawsuits move through the pipeline and more users discover problems as a result of the rootkit.
Excerpt from Dwight Silverman's Blog, http://blogs.chron.com/techblog/.
A sentence that bears repeating: "It's very important to remember that it's your intellectual property -- it's not your computer."Quote:
Ed Bott, who's been doing some excellent blog-based coverage of the Sony rootkit story, links to a Washington Post blog entry
http://blogs.washingtonpost.com/secu...sh_admini.html
in which the Department of Homeland Security warned against the tactics Sony used:
The reference to the scandal over Sony's anti-piracy software came at a U.S. Chamber of Commerce-sponsored event in downtown Washington on combating intellectual-property theft. At the event, Stewart Baker, recently appointed by President Bush as the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS)assistant secretary for policy, made a comment that suggested that some anti-piracy efforts introduced by the industry could have profound and unexpected effects on the security of the nation's critical infrastructures.
I wasn't at the conference, but a regular Security Fix reader who also happens to be a reporter wrote in to say he attended the event and that I might find it interesting given our coverage of the Sony DRM fiasco. DHS declined to make Baker available for an interview, but the Chamber of Commerce was kind enough to provide a Webcast of the event.
Seated on a panel that featured entertainment and technology executives Mitch Bainwol, chairman and chief executive of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), as well as Susan Mann, director of intellectual property policy for Microsoft, Baker wrapped up his opening comments with the following admonition for the industry:
"I wanted to raise one point of caution as we go forward, because we are also responsible for maintaining the security of the information infrastructure of the United States and making sure peoples' [and] businesses' computers are secure. ... There's been a lot of publicity recently about tactics used in pursuing protection for music and DVD CDs in which questions have been raised about whether the protection measures install hidden files on peoples' computers that even the system administrators cannot find."
In a remark clearly aimed directly at Sony and other labels, Stewart continued: "It's very important to remember that it's your intellectual property -- it's not your computer. And in the pursuit of protection of intellectual property, it's important not to defeat or undermine the security measures that people need to adopt in these days.
Cheers,
Linda
;) :rolleyes: :cool:
More news... http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,14783731
(Mr McAleavey is the owner of BOClean, an anti-trojan software)
Cheers,Quote:
Microsoft to remove Sony/BMG rootkit
Microsoft's going to add to its Antispyware program the ability to detect and remove the Sony/BMG rootkit.
The rootkit also will be added to the Malicious Software Removal tool, which is updated each month via Windows Update, according to Jason Garms of Microsoft's anti-malware group:
We use a set of objective criteria for both Windows Defender and the Malicious Software Removal Tool to determine what software will be classified for detection and removal by our anti-malware technology. We have analyzed this software, and have determined that in order to help protect our customers we will add a detection and removal signature for the rootkit component of the XCP software to the Windows AntiSpyware beta, which is currently used by millions of users. This signature will be available to current beta users through the normal Windows AntiSpyware beta signature update process, which has been providing weekly signature updates for almost a year now. Detection and removal of this rootkit component will also appear in Windows Defender when its first public beta is available. We also plan to include this signature in the December monthly update to the Malicious Software Removal Tool. It will also be included in the signature set for the online scanner on Windows Live Safety Center.
(Spotted on Ed Bott.)
Linda
;) :rolleyes: :cool:
Check out some of the Sony EULA... if you think the rootkit is bad or insane read some of these legal stipulations..
http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/archives/004145.php
Quote:
7 -If you file for bankruptcy, you have to delete all the music on your computer.
3 -If you move out of the country, you have to delete all your music. The EULA specifically forbids "export" outside the country where you reside.
1- If your house gets burgled, you have to delete all your music from your laptop when you get home. That's because the EULA says that your rights to any copies terminate as soon as you no longer possess the original CD.
Wow, Sony... wow. :mad:
In other Sony news, it seems they are finally settling the lawsuit pertaining to the Disc Read Errors with the Playstation 2. I got an email giving more info about it. Basically, anyone who has proof of having their PS2 repaired or whatnot can reap some of the benefits of the settlement. Wish I had a link, I already deleted the email and don't remember the URL of the site. I think www.gamespot.com has an article on it.
FYI,
This topic has made it to the front page of the NY Times business section. I guess that since the net community knows all about it, it is now time for the general public.
If you want to read the article, you can find it at www.nytimes.com
Doc