W.e.e.e.l.l

Sony claims they've stopped putting the first one that was found on CDs, and have sort of shifty-footed their way around on whether they're recalling those CDs. Quite a few retailers have recalled them and given refunds, and it looks as if Sony will reimburse them.

They've apparently tried to come up with something "better" to do the same thing, but have stayed with incompetents for the programming, so the "new and better" is almost as bad a security risk as the old one, although it's a little less likely to directly disable your entire computer.

Now that the second one has been discovered, they've apparently learned to say "gosh gee we're really sorry" but haven't quite learned to say "we f...d up again."

Stand by for their next attempt...

In the meantime, they've provided a nicely packaged root kit that has been picked up by the subteen wannabees in a form that any juvenile delinquent with a cookbook can turn loose on all of us, for any malicious purpose he/she thinks might be "fun." - Or maybe they just brought it to our attention that the "crackers" are set on doing that. There's at least one similar rootkit kernal that's freeware.

John