Branimir's Blog Archive

Planet Sony   [www.doxpara.com]

Check out this picture.

No, the map doesn't show known cases of the bird flu. It is about another plague.

Let's recap (full article is here):

You buy a CD. You put the CD into your PC in order to enjoy your music. Sony grabs this opportunity to sneak into your house like a virus and set up camp, and it leaves the backdoor open so that Sony or any other enterprising intruder can follow and have the run of the place. If you try to kick Sony out, it trashes the place. And what does this software do once it's on your PC? ... The DRM itself is almost unbelievably restrictive, and some have suggested that the reasoning behind it is part of Sony's ongoing war over digital music supremacy with the decidedly more supreme Apple.

Now, about that picture: When Sony Rootkit spies on you it needs to query a name server (DNS) to convert a domain name to IP address. Due to a loophole in the DNS system it is possible to get lists of cached IP addresses from outside. IP addresses can be mapped to geographic locations. This way it is possible to show location of your house on the map.

If you are still considering to put a Sony product under Christmas tree be sure to read the End User Licence Agreement (EULA) Sony's customers have to agree to before listening to their music.

Posted by Branimir Dolicki at 09:22

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Please don't upgrade me!   [www.jnd.org]

I don't think I want to be upgraded to Lufthansa Business Class. Read the horrifying account by Don Norman on complete failure of Lufthansa in human-computer interaction. I just hope that the same people don't get to design the cockpit!

Posted by Branimir Dolicki at 20:04

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