I’ve just come across Bruce Schneier’s fascinating article at Wired News about the Sony copy-protection scheme which, essentially, installed malware on your PC without you knowing anything about it. And, the story suggests, because a Mega Corp did this other Mega Corps (or Wanna Be Mega Corps) colluded with them by not issuing security warnings from their software which is designed to protect your privacy and your PC. According to the article, Sony BMG’s president of global digital business said, ‘Most people don’t even know what a rootkit is, so why should they care about it? [article].

The arrogance of big companies always astounds me. Where is the respect for the consumer in all of this? In many ways it doesn’t surprise me that people look for ways to get music without the money going to these guys. Why not work with people in an open way to find solutions that work for everybody? In the end, it’s going to be the only way. And as for the security and software producers who turned the other way, I don’t think they should be surprised that people are running into Apple’s arms. Do you?

Sadly, I think companies should do the right thing rather than go for short-term profit. I believe that for long term stability and revenue growth any company should be doing the correct thing; be that correct mistakes, trying to stick to standards or just be good guys. For some companies this works. Unfortunately, real world business isn’t like this.

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