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  1. ​ ​Nathan Davieau
  2. ​​4-19-11
  3. ​A well known company has been intentionally harming their customers.  Sony has violated their customers’ trust by putting spyware on music CD’s that installed on customers’ computers without their knowledge and ceded control of the system and data stored on the system, it also caused some customers’ computers to crash (Mulligan & Perzanowski, 2008).  Sony has even filed lawsuits against customers who modified Sony products to gain additional functionality without violating any copyright laws (grep.law, n.d.).  Sony also advertised functionality of devices and later forcibly removed that functionality after customers have purchased the product specifically for that feature (Sony, 2010).  It is because of these reasons that everyone should stop buying Sony products. Sony has proven time and again that they do not care about their customers.
  4. ​Sony violated their customers’ trust.  Sony put spyware on their music CD’s which installed itself on customers’ computers without the customer’s knowledge.  The spyware ceded control of the system and data stored on the system and also caused some customers’ computers to crash.  Towards the end of 2005, millions of consumers who had legitimately purchased a music CD from Sony BMG “learned that software unknowingly installed on their machines effectively ceded control of their computers and data.  The rootkit…was not installed by a virus attached to unscanned e-mails, nor was it bundled with adware developed by a disreputable vendor” (Mulligan & Perzanowski, 2008). The Rootkit came from the music CD they had purchased at their local store, from a company that was supposed to be reputable.  Sony did not stop there.  Once the threat of their rootkit was discovered by a group of security researchers, “Sony BMG claimed it was taking steps to address the issue, [but] it took no discernible action until [Mark] Russinovich made the threat … public knowledge. And even then, Sony BMG attempted to downplay the importance of the rootkit discovery” (Mulligan & Perzanowski, 2008).  After the public outcry from the security concerns that Sony’s rootkit posed to their system, Sony decided to provide software that allowed customers to uninstall the rootkit.  The “uninstaller created security threats equal in magnitude to the rootkit it was intended to eliminate, permitting malicious code embedded in any website to attack unsuspecting customers who took steps to protect their machines by uninstalling the rootkit” (Mulligan & Perzanowski, 2008).  Sony used DRM to keep people from stealing their music but took it a step further and crossed the line, putting all of their customers at risk to things like identity theft (Mulligan & Perzanowski, 2008).
  5. ​If it were not bad enough that Sony installs spyware on their customers’ computers, they also file lawsuits against customers that purchase products and modify them to gain additional functionality without violating copyright laws.  Sony created a product known as Aibo pet which was a robotic dog (grep.law, n.d.).  Some consumers wanted to experiment with their new robot and try to make it do more than its initial programming of bark, sit, and fetch pink colored objects.  One hobbyist, who went by the name AiboPet on the internet, reverse engineered Sony’s code and reprogrammed his dog to dance and speak (grep.law, n.d.).  AiboPet released his new code to enable these features on the internet.  He did not charge any money for his version of the code.  What was Sony’s response?  “Sony sued AiboPet... Aibo-lovers boycotted Sony. Sony conceded to its customers… by rescinding the lawsuit” (grep.law, n.d.).  After dropping the lawsuit, Sony decided they could turn a profit by marketing the code created by those formerly being sued by Sony.  “Sony ultimately permitted the hobbyist to repost some of his programs (on the understanding that Sony will have the rights of commercial development in the programs)” (eff.org, 2002). Some consumers were influenced to buy the robotic dog, Aibo, because of the functionality added by AiboPet, and Sony thanked the hobbyist, AiboPet, by slapping him with litigation, then stealing the code he worked hard to write (grep.law, n.d.).
  6. ​Not only does Sony go after their customers that try to add functionality to the products they rightfully purchased, they also sell products and later remove features that had previously enticed consumers to purchase the product.  I had purchased a Sony Playstation 3 because of many of the features it had, one of which was OtherOS.  OtherOS enabled the user to install Linux onto the console and then choose which operating system to boot to.  I later purchased an upgraded version because it had a bigger hard drive which I intended to use in conjunction with OtherOS.  Sadly, Sony was about to illegally and forcefully remove that feature I loved so much.  On April 1, 2010, Sony Released the 3.21, which contained the following revision, “The [Install Other OS] and [Default System] features have been deleted” (Sony, 2010).  Only consoles with the latest firmware are allowed access to the Playstation Network which enables users to use the multiplayer modes of their games, access and download digital games, watch TV and movies via Netflix, and transfer media between their PS3 and PSP.  Now, customers had to choose between keeping the OtherOS functionality and losing the ability to play multiplayer games and access any digital media that has been previously purchased or update their system and lose the ability to use the PS3 as a computer.
  7. ​It is because of these reasons that everyone should stop buying Sony products because Sony has proven time and again that they do not care about their customers. Sony compromises your security and data by installing rootkits on your system.  Sony threatens their customers if they add functionality to Sony’s products. Sony even, illegally, removes features from their products after customers have purchased that product because of that specific feature.  Why are consumers continuing to purchase products from a company who has repeatedly and maliciously harmed their customers?
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  10. References
  11. EFF. (2002). Unintended consequences: Three years under the DMCA. Retrieved April 19, 2011 from w2.eff.org/IP/DMCA/20020503_dmca_consequences.pdf
  12. Grep Law. (n.d.). Aibo-lovers entice Sony to drop DMCA case, but for how long?  Retrieved April 19, 2011 from http://grep.law.harvard.edu/articles/02/05/03/1613203.shtml
  13. Mulligan, D., & Perzanowski, A. (2008). The magnificence of the disaster: Reconstructing the Sony BMG rootkit incident.  Retrieved April 19, 2011 from Berkeley Technology Law Journal.
  14. Sony. (2010). Support: System software updates. Retrieved May 3, 2011 from http://us.playstation.com/support/systemupdates/ps3/history/index.htm#update321
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