Sony's (Non-Existent) Corporate Conscience

Here we go again- yet another company perpetrates an outrageous abuse of its own customers. I'm referring, of course, to the notorious Sony Spyware scandal. The story is growing, here are some more perspectives on it:

Sony Rootkits Your Computer
Security Fix column, the Washington Post

The Washington Post story is especially informative, as it has an interview with Mikko Hypponen, F-Secure's director of antivirus research, who has also been researching Sony's rootkitting activities.

What Kind of Freakin' Moron

In this case, forget it. WHAT ON EARTH are the "fine" folks at Sony thinking? Are they insane? Morally bankrupt? How can any reasonable, thinking, moral person think that installing this sort of invasive junk on a customer's computer is OK? Yes, I am questioning both their intelligence and morality. This is beyond outrageous, it should be criminal. And yet we shouldn't need laws that say "it is wrong to install spyware on your customer's computers, especially poorly-written crap that introduces new security risks and instabilities."

But apparently we do, since so many grownup adults in positions of responsibility are incapable of figuring these things out for themselves. Gotta love this brave new world of treating your customers like criminals. Thanks! I really appreciate that, Sony! Love you too!

Of course this only affects users running Microsoft Windows. Thank goodness that Linux and other platforms are still unworthy of notice to these brainiac globalcorps. And thank goodness that it is impossible to pull these kinds of stunts on an open platform. More than ever, we owe a giant debt of thanks to Richard Stallman, Linus Torvalds, and all the thousands of FOSS thinkers, developers, and leaders for giving us meaningful alternatives to the idiots who inflict us with these unwarranted, unfriendly, anti-customer attacks. The funniest punch line of all? It does nothing to deter piracy- the folks who copy and resell music and movies by the tens of thousands aren't even slowed down by these "protections."