Copyright Law

Hal 9000/2005 version by Sony

By Peter Moldave

2001: A Space Odyssey was as much (or perhaps more) a “computer” movie than a “space” movie. The HAL 9000 computer was in many ways for me one of the most memorable and enduring features (characters?) of the film.

One of the disturbing things for me was the extreme efforts that were required in order to shut HAL down. HAL had become convinced that the humans were a threat to the mission. The humans fought back — but in order to save the mission (themselves!) they had to completely remove many parts of his brain. You had to kill HAL to save the humans. (In the book, as I recall, there are even more references to the redundant power supplies — nuclear, battery, etc.).

In many ways, I have always been comforted by the fact that I know I can shut down my desktop machine simply by unplugging it. But, as with HAL, the truth is sometimes worse than you might think.

Sony Corporation is reportedly using a “rootkit” to enforce its form of copy protection. This modifies parts of the basic operating system to (1) enforce copy protection but also (2) hide the existence of the modification. (Sound like a virus? Technically, it is not a computer virus, but only because it does propagate. In humans, we would call this the non-contagious form of bird flu — still kills you, just doesn’t cause a pandemic.)

So, the real question is — who gave Sony the right to do this? You know the answer — you did, in the EULA. Read the EULA.

Do you think you control the software on your computer? With this kind of software, it seems you don’t even have the right to know what is on your computer and remove it if you don’t like it.

This sort of thing has been seen before — “Gator” (since renamed Claria, kind of reminding you of the cigarette company, Altria), an “adware” program you might have inadvertently installed, used to have an end user license agreement that made you perform an obscure ritual to remove its software — and prohibited you from removing it any other way (”stand outside in a full moon and chant go software go seven times” — oops, sorry, that’s the generalized exorcism ritual, not the Gator version). But at least Gator let you remove it. According to some reports, you have to ask Sony for a removal kit by finding the un-install Web request form on a Sony Web site, filling it out and waiting for removal instructions via e-mail.

Who controls what is on your computer? Do you know how to remove it? Can you shut HAL down? Or (like many people I have talked to) is your solution to buy a new computer because your old computer is so full of adware/malware/malfunctioning software.

See also PC World Article. Update: You can get a patch which ?uncloakes? (Sony?s words) the software here. Uninstall requests still must go through the website here.

Further update (11-8): reports in the Boston Globe are that (1) the software communicates to Sony the IP address of the user and the song title and (2) the removal program “causes malfunctions and can cause an irreparable loss of computer data.”

Further Update (Jan 2006): Symatec software has a similar issue, i.e. cloaking (see Symatec Technical Advisory). However, the intention seems to be less sinister, i.e. to prevent loss of functionality, not to prevent use of copies of CDs!

Full post as published by OpenSourceLegal on November 04, 2005 (boomark / email).