Extended Copy Protection
Extended Copy Protection ( XCP ) is a copy protection of the company First4Internet , which was used among others by Sony BMG on music CDs .
Copy protection is intended to make it more difficult to make illegal copies of music CDs ( digital rights management ). In order to be able to play the music contained on the CD on the computer, the user must install a playback program contained on the CD. Sony and the copy protection came under criticism at the beginning of November 2005 because the software installs a rootkit on Windows PCs during installation without informing the user ( EULA ) .
technology
The rootkit monitors whether running programs are included in a black list of copy programs and uses a filter driver to deny them access to the CD drive , thus preventing copies of the protected CD. The rootkit also hides all files and folders with names beginning with $ sys $, regardless of whether they are foreign programs or not. This approach harbors the risk that other malware can hide itself from virus and malware scanners with the help of Sony's rootkit, which is what actually happened. An example of this is the Trojan horse Backdoor.IRC.Snyd.A.
It was also discovered that the driver used by Sony is improperly programmed and can lead to data loss in the event of errors or render Windows unusable.
Other operating systems such as Linux or FreeBSD are not affected. These play the protected CDs like normal CDs. It is also not common on operating systems other than Windows for programs on CDs to start automatically.
effectiveness
XCP is considered to be very poor copy protection. A small strip of insulating tape (opaque) already switches it off. Audio CDs with copy protection normally consist of two parts, an audio part and a data part. The software is located on the CD in the outer areas. A piece of electrical tape the size of a fingernail will make this area illegible. The PC drive can no longer recognize this section, the audio tracks can now be read out like those on a non-copy-protected CD.
Sony's behavior
After Sony BMG had initially asserted that the rootkit was neither malware nor spyware , a so-called deinstallation program was finally made available to remove the copy protection from Windows PCs. However, in order to access the uninstallation program, users first had to register on the Sony website. An analysis of the program showed that although it removed the function to hide files and folders with $ sys $ in the name, it left the copy protection in place. In fact, the program files are even replaced with newer ones. In the further course it was also found that the software contacted a website when playing songs and transmitted data such as the album ID. This would enable Sony to create user profiles from the data “time”, “ IP address ” and “album ID”.
After Sony had initially assured that copy protection was not currently being used in Germany, Sony withdrew it due to the fierce criticism and recalled all CDs with XCP that had not yet been sold.
A class action lawsuit by the Electronic Frontier Foundation against Sony BMG was resolved against Sony's obligation to pay $ 7.50 per returned CD and provide a code for a free download.
Copyright infringements in XCP itself
According to reports, Sony and the then First4Internet (now Fortium Technologies), the owner of XCP, also committed some copyright infringements through the distribution of CDs with XCP by Sony in the context of the use of parts of free software that are licensed under the GPL or the LGPL stand.
The expert Sebastian Porst and Matti Nikki and other programmers have published evidence that in parts of the XCP LAME - MP3 encoder will, of mpglib , FAAC , id3lib ( ID3 tags ,) mpg123 and the VLC media player are included. All of these parts are under licenses, the requirements of which were not met by Sony.
Web links
- Fortium Technologies (formerly First4Internet)
- first Heise report
- Heise report on the discovery of GPL / LGPL copyright violations by XCP
- Sony BMG settles rootkit affair with US trade regulator
- Sony, Rootkits and Digital Rights Management Gone Too Far Blog by Mark Russinovich , the discoverer