The amount of damage the Sony XCP copy restriction software has caused is absolutely outrageous. This software has infected “more than half a million networks, including military and government sites.” Not only is the damage caused outrageous, but also the very idea and reason behind the software. It was created to protect music on at least twenty CDs from illegal copying, but instead it blocks a number of legal uses as well. If I actually go to the store and buy a CD, I should definitely be able to listen to that music on my ipod, which is in no way illegal. It prohibits the paying customers from copying or burning the music onto another CD, or even transferring those files to their own ipod. They can’t even listen to the CD on their own computer without facing restrictions and certain agreements
This software punishes the user for doing exactly what the music wants, which is to be fluid: to be mixed, morphed, rearranged and archived. The punishment is the hidden software that causes your computer to be slow, susceptible to crashes and third party attacks. And if this is not bad enough, they also ignore your privacy rights, because the secret feature of XCP alerts Sony when one of the CDs is placed in your computer. By restricting this fluidity, Sony has shown that they do not understand what music wants, and the direction that technology is taking it. Rather than accepting the stage of freedom and sharing that music has been going through, they have overreacted in their attempts to restrict or stop this inevitable stage. Obviously it has proven extremely unsuccessful. Musicians and corporations need to cater to the desires of their consumers, rather than punishing them for wanting more personalized and flexible music.
As my legal columnist Jennifer Granick suggests, if the users are not warned about the possible damage the software could cause, it is a criminal charge. But of course, it is highly unlikely that such a large and profitable corporation, like Sony, will be rightly charged for their crimes. The harm their software has done is practically irreversible, and worst of all, Sony does not seem to upset about it. Not only their actions, but also Sony’s reactions and sluggish response to the problems they have caused so many people have not been taken lightly. Sony’s solution so far has been withdrawing the XCP CDs, while Microsoft provides a patch and anti-spyware programs to infected machines. Sony’s feeble attempts to supposedly make up for the havoc they have wreaked on half a million networks in about one hundred sixty-five countries spanning the globe are simply not enough.In their efforts to make more money, they have done an injustice to the listeners and to the music.
More than anything, they are blindly trying to restrict the future of music. In their efforts to have control over the music and user’s ability to copy, they fail to see that the real revolution of music is lies in exactly what they are trying to stop—liquidity.