Now here's a story that is dangerously close to being too technical for ordinary PC users to understand, but it has serious enough implications that I'm going to try. I make my living cleaning systems of malware and I feel strongly that purveyors of such malicious programs should be prosecuted. Now that includes Sony.

Sony—yes, the mutlimedia giant conglomerate—loads secret and dangerous software onto PCs on which the owners run digital rights management (DRM) copy protected products, such as audio CDs. One example is Get Right With the Man, by Van Zant. On Amazon.com, it is clearly labeled as being copy protected, although there is no explanation what the copy protection is or what it does. (See for yourself.)

An enterprising technical blogger named Mark Russinovich uncovered the extent of the copy protection. In short, playing the audio CD on your PC loads a rootkit. A rootkit modifies your PC's operating system at a system level, the way viruses and malware frequently do. The Sony rootkit sets up instructions in your PC that allows it to HIDE files and directories from you, the PC owner. It then runs those hidden programs. That's bad enough; but even worse, it's methodology is sloppy, and it hides ANY files or directories that employ a specific naming convention. That means ANYONE who knows about this rootkit could write a malicious program that this rootkit would hide from you.

Still with me? I hope so, because it gets better. Since the files and directories are hidden, they cannot be seen and deleted. Even worse, they hook into system level threads that can cause your PC to crash and display what is commonly called The Blue Screen of Death (BSD).

Sony denied this, but after Mark Russinovich carefully and completely documented it, they reluctantly announced an uninstaller was available. But they didn't announce it to customers who are affected—they put it in a press release. And even though they released an uninstaller, they hid it on their web site, so only a dedicated browser might accidentally stumble across it. And then they made getting the uninstaller difficult, requiring the victim—er, uh, customer—to complete a form, wait for an email, follow the link in the email to another form, fill it out and wait for another email. Even then, the uninstaller will only work with the original machine.

It is a fascinating investigation by Mark Russinovich. His first blog is here. At the bottom, there is a link to the follow-on, which has a link to a third follow-on, which has a link to a fourth follow-on. As of today, that's all he's written. It is extremely interesting and I encourage everyone to read it.

I also suggest that customers refrain from buying Sony products due to the dishonest character of the company as evidenced by their actions and their reactions to being exposed. I am also aware that Sony is working on a competing next-generation DVD technology and suddenly I've decided that maybe I don't want this company involved in determining the future of DVD. I recall that Sony's greed and arrogance was basically what killed the Betamax video technology, which was actually superior to VHS. Down with Sony.