(criminal) The irony of Sony DRM

Just over a year ago, the Sony rootkit DRM scandal broke, depicting how an arrogant Sony BMG had chosen to subvert the security of millions of PCs in order to protect their intellectual property through DRM. If an individual had done it, this would be considered a serious crime, but Sony got away with what amounts to little more than a slap on the wrist.

Like many like-minded people, I started a personal boycott of all Sony products from then on. I had never bought Sony stuff before anyway -- too little bang for the buck, if you ask me -- so this was only a symbolic gesture.

Recently, I wanted to buy a small, mains-operated, single-piece (no separate speakers) table-top stereo with a digital FM tuner. All other features were negotiable/optional.

After weeks of searching, literally the only brand that offered anything like this turned out to be a Sony. Since the boycott was over a year old, I gritted my teeth and bought it....

...and found the following text in the user manual:

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Music discs encoded with copyright protection technologies

This product is designed to playback discs that conform to the Compact Disc (CD) standard. Recently, various music discs encoded with copyright protection technologies are marketed by some record companies. Please be aware that among those discs, there are some that do not confirm to the CD standard and may not be playable by this product.

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Delicious!