Editor,
The column "Stealing sounds innocent when you call it 'file sharing'" by Joe Buffaloe, printed in the Daily Lobo last Thursday, is probably one of the most ignorant and misleading rants I have read.
Next time the Lobo chooses to give voice to words deemed acceptably opinionated for the sake of argument, the paper might want to make sure that the person voicing the opinion has first researched the topic even briefly before asserting asinine conclusions.
Buffaloe begins by stating his intent of the entire rant straight off, requesting those he offends to send him a letter. Unfortunately, this reply can only address the first of many fallacies brought up throughout the column. He first claims, "Sony recently installed a program on a number of its CDs to prevent online file sharing," and later dismisses it as a mistake that Sony made to "protect their business." This is inaccurate to say the least. Sony's rootkit software is a malicious response to copyright infringement - apparently the corporation's idea of Digital Right Management software. The technicalities of said software are beyond the scope of this letter, but suffice it to say it's not just an "irresponsible program" as Buffaloe makes it out to be. This software is installed without the user's knowledge after the insertion of a copy-protected music CD, and conceals running processes, files or system data. In other words, the rootkit maintains access to a system without the user's knowledge, while reporting to Sony's servers about the CD's use, an effect which can be used to track users. Spyware, anyone?
The crisis is that Sony's rootkit software, available on approximately 24 million music CDs, has effectively penetrated more than 568,200 different networks, including military, government and - needless to say - educational, with untold numbers of compromised computers. Without more information, the number of networks compromised only guarantees that one computer behind the network is infected with the rootkit. Only Sony knows the number of computers at the moment, and Sony isn't releasing that information or what it is doing with gathered data. Furthermore, the company is admitting no guilt over the entire situation.
This is a problem with a magnitude above and beyond a simple mistake. Sony has mass-distributed malicious software that not only behaves like spyware, but creates a gaping vulnerability that can be exploited. Sony's solution to the justifiable outcry is a fairly unknown Web site with an uninstaller for the DRM software that removes the rootkit while reasserting Sony's spyware behavior and creating more vulnerabilities and pulling copy-protected music CDs off the shelves.
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I hope the majority can see this ruse as an attempt to secure profits using criminal methods while treating each and every paying customer like a common crook.
This behavior by Sony is more than reprehensible and disrespectful - it's illegal. Don't worry, several lawsuits are just getting started due to this incident.
I've only just begun to reach the main point of Buffaloe's flawed work. The idea that some people may be reading his article and nodding their heads thoughtfully, while commending Sony for its efforts effectively destroys my faith in the Daily Lobo to publish readable and relevant material.
Vincent Cheng
UNM student
