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HeadroomTwo technology-business scandals are making headlines. Date published: 11/24/2005
As of today, the holidays are upon us. This makes things a bit hectic, and there's kind of a lot to talk about, so today's Headroom is going to touch two topics. Let's get started. For those out there who don't spend their days scouring tech news, it may have been overlooked that Sony BMG music totally messed up their customers recently. Sony, in a feeble attempt to copy-protect its music from all those dirty music pirates out there, included a little piece of software on some 52 albums released this year. Upon putting one of these CDs into a computer, users were presented with a little box filled with legal and technical jargon. Most simply agreed with whatever it said. By agreeing, the user allowed Sony to install flawed software that, in the end, left the user's computer open to practically anyone, i.e., hackers. Sony was found out and tried to play it off. But the company has since agreed to stop including the flawed, and questionably copy written software on anymore CDs. The label has also agreed to replace infected CDs and also offer free MP3 unprotected downloads of the infected CDs for people who bought any of them. For a list of infected CDs and how to return one if you have it, go to cp.sonybmg.com/xcp. In another big Internet "scandal," some companies, such as Sears and Kmart, have been screaming "copyright infringement" over sites like bfads.net that were put up recently with near-complete listings of stores' ads for tomorrow's big Black Friday deals. The stores have stated that their ads are protected under copyright law, according to published reports, and because there's no way somebody could have gotten ahold of these ads if they weren't leaked, this is illegal. However, there's always the chance that some of these stores leaked their deals on purpose to drum up excitement and to try to draw the most shoppers to their doors at 4 o'clock tomorrow morning. The Internet has become a powerful tool, and big businesses are coming to fear its power. I see this as only good. Shopaholics, visit bfads.net and get your shopping list ready. RYAN BROSMER is a senior
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