Sony BMG sues SunnComm over DRM

By Cory Doctorow at 10:01 am Thursday, Jul 12

Sony BMG is suing the DRM company that sold it spyware-based DRM for its music CDs. Amergence (formerly SunnComm) made a piece of spyware called MediaMax that infected your computer even if you declined its license "agreement." The program spied on your music listening habits, installed itself in a way calculated to make it hard to uninstall, and phoned home with information about your computer. An uninstaller the company eventually released didn't really uninstall the software, but did create security vulnerabilities on your PC.

It's just proof that no good deed goes unpunished: people who downloaded Sony's music from P2P networks without paying for it didn't get deliberately infected, while people who were honest and tried to do the right thing by buying CDs got nailed.

Sony BMG filed a summons in a New York state court against The Amergence Group Inc., formerly SunnComm International, which developed the MediaMax CD copy-protection technology.

Sony BMG is seeking to recover some $12 million in damages from the Phoenix-based technology company, according to court papers filed July 3.

The music company accuses Amergence of negligence, unfair business practices and breaching the terms of its license agreement by delivering software that "did not perform as warranted."

Link (via The Inquirer)