Sony installs other software

On this blog and in my USA Today column from last week, I wrote about how Sony was selling CDs infected with a nasty program that installs all sorts of software on your PC — software that opens up a variety of security holes. (Read the column for the full story.)

Now it turns out there’s more. The Sony software I wrote about is called XCP. But it turns out that other Sony CDs install a different piece of software called MediaMax.

And get this: Even if you decline the end-user license agreement, it still installs itself. And if you insert another Sony CD, it activates itself, even if you don’t play the disk and decline the agreement. The software sends information about you, your computer, and the disks you put into your CD drive to SunnComm, the company that makes it.

MediaMax phones home whenever you play a protected CD, automatically installs over 12 MB of software before even displaying an End User License Agreement, and fails to include an uninstaller.

This is without your consent. And, had the good folks at Freedom to Tinker not discovered it, without your knowledge.

You can read the full story here.

It seems Sony feels that if you dare to insert a Sony CD that you purchased into your computer, it can do whatever it wants to your machine.

Here’s my advice: Don’t buy anything from Sony. You simply don’t know what you’re getting. It’s possible that Sony computers have hidden software that sends information back to the company. It’s possible that Sony CDs (music or otherwise) install other software that hasn’t been discovered yet. So why take chances?