Sony reconsidering CD copy protection

By Simon Aughton

Posted on 12 Dec 2005 at 12:38

Sony BMG is reconsidering its approach to the copy protection of CDs following the discovery that both the systems it has been using open security holes for PCs.

Thomas Hesse, who heads up Sony's global business unit, told the BBC that the bad publicity has forced it to re-evaluate, although that does not mean that the record company is going to take a more permissive line.

'The key point to remember is that copyright infringement is a huge issue for the recording industry as a whole and that's where we came from originally,' he said.

Sony has recalled CDs bearing XCP copy protection but has yet to do the same for discs with MediaMax DRM. A software patch designed to fix the security flaw on these discs was itself discovered to pose a risk.