Do You Know What's in Your Computer? Remember Sony's DRM Rootkit?

"Sony's DRM Rootkit: The Real Story" Schneier on Security (Wired.com) (November 17, 2005)

Remember when Sony obligingly disabled part of your computer's security, if you put one of their music CDs in the slot?

You wouldn't, of course, because it took quite a while for that malicious DRM rootkit to be noticed - and longer for a critical mass of blog posts to build up.

By that time, a half-million computers were infected.

Bruce Schneier's article is a pretty good retrospective on the SNAFU's progress, up to mid-November of 2005. He has strong opinions and a bias or two (call it a definite point of view?) - but he also gives the facts.

"And the Lesson of This is"

Pay attention to what you let into your computer. Videos, music, programs, whatever.

Particularly since traditional media companies are still getting used to Information Age technology - and may not understand just how smart their customers are.