[CORed]

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do you think this order came from the ceo?

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I think somebody pretty high in management (possibly VP level) said, "I want a copy protection system that can't be removed." . Somebody farther down the food chain hired Three Stooges Software to implement this, and they came up with this abomination. While I wouldn't boycott Denny's because some idiot assistant manager in Bumfuck, Kentucky threw a black guy out of the restaraunt for no reason other than that he was black, I don't think the two cases are comparable. Also, Sony's response to this is telling. They have not made an uninstaller publicly available: You have to send two emails, and accept ActiveX controls from their website to get the uninstaller. They have not recalled the infected CD's, nor offered to refund or replace on request. They have tried to spin it as not really being that bad.
So, while the initial decision to put the root kit copy protection on their CD's may or may not have been a mistake by a contractor or a lower level employee, their response when it became public has shown them to be unethical and irresponsible. Yes, making it right would be expensive for them, but I hope, failing to do so will be even more expensive.