The details have yet to be released, but it appears Sony has finally buckled under the pressure of public outcry.
As Eric Goldman puts it, “The outrage reflects frustration with software vendors deciding what’s on your computer. People are beginning to say, ‘Stop it. Give me my hard drive back.’ “
The story is far from over however. There is still definitive evidence that Sony is violation of the LGPL. The fact remains that this software was in distribution for over four month before it was discovered. Only after it was discovered and under legal and economic pressure did Sony backpedal, attempt to cover, apologize, and after everything else failed, recall the 2.1 million albums with rootkits on them.
Still no written promise from Sony regarding future use of privacy-violating technology to control honest consumers.
The terms set out by the Boycott Sony petition have been met, to a degree. Feel free to hold out and continue boycotting, though. I’m personally waiting for a grovelling disavowal of these tactics and a legally binding promise to never use them again. Hence, I’ll continue the “Sony Detox” program that I started two weeks ago with Laura Love and continued last week with Nickel Creek. Listening to Indie music is good for you, boycott or no.
About darn time!!