(criminal) EULA gives Sony right to install backdoors on your PC!

People have often heard me say Sony is the "Microsoft of consumer electronics", which is a very serious insult, if you know anything about me! But this was always in the context of being "pretty but no use for experts", and having too little "bang for the buck".

But it seems the similarities between Microsoft and Sony go much further than that!

[For background on this recent anti-Sony rantfest, please read Sony, Rootkits and Digital Restrictions Management Gone Too Far and another anti-DRM article.

So now there are TWO mega corporations out to screw up your computer :-)

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These are some points from the Sony EULA that applies if you bought one of their rootkit-equipped, "Digital Restrictions Management"-enabled, music CDs.

Sony-BMGs EULA

Sony-BMG can install and use backdoors in the copy protection software or media player to "enforce their rights" against you, at any time, without notice. And Sony-BMG disclaims any liability if this "self help" crashes your computer, exposes you to security risks, or any other harm.

and

You must install any and all updates, or else lose the music on your computer. The EULA immediately terminates if you fail to install any update. No more holding out on those hobble-ware downgrades masquerading as updates.

Or how about this one:

If you file for bankruptcy, you have to delete all the music on your computer. Seriously.

Well I guess this is a good time to point out that, even in consumer electronics, I have never been a Sony fan. Even in my camera comparision page, [which is now sadly outdated but many of my friends and acquaintances have used to help in their purchasing decisions back when it was current,] I do not have a single Sony model. Just not enough bang for the buck - the greedy buggers!