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11/16/2005 Archived Entry: "Too much Sony to summarize"

I can't keep up. Now we learn that Sony's XCP adds a memory overflow vulnerability to your PC, a popular avenue for viral infection. And it turns out that XCP also "phones home." Sony refuses to say how many PCs have done so, but a network specialist has examined DNS caches and puts the lower bound at over half a million infected PCs. Sony only admits that 2.1 million CDs have been sold with XCP, but whether this is the true total or just the "official" 20 titles is anyone's guess.

Bloggers are beginning to compare this to the Tylenol scare of the '80s. The difference is, Johnson & Johnson was held up as a textbook example of a company correctly handling a crisis of consumer confidence. Sony is being described as an example of how not to act. Sony may still have time to come clean and set things right; the Electronic Frontier Foundation tells how, but Sony will have to act fast to salvage the Christmas buying season. (People are beginning to wonder what surprises lurk in the latest PlayStation.)

I give up; there's too much to report. Visit the Boycott Sony page for the latest revelations.  —brad