Sony BMG busted for software piracy in France

Ouch, that payback, it can be a bitch -- Sony BMG, distributors of rootkit-installing CDs and litigious foe of P2P users worldwide, has just been busted in France for using pirated software on its servers. And it gets even worse: Windows admin tool developer PointDev says a Sony BMG was caught when an IT staffer actually called up for support and gave a pirated license number to the phone tech. That's some pretty shady behavior for a company that's rammed anti-piracy measures down its own customers' throats -- too bad it's probably not going to feel the hit of the €300,000 ($475,000) lawsuit nearly as hard as the college students it routinely sues for $5,000.

[Via ZeroPaid, thanks to everyone who sent this in]

[DWells55 @ Apr 1st 2008 3:24PM]

Hypocrites.

[Eric M. @ Apr 1st 2008 3:34PM]

Perfect example of karma.

[Rafer @ Apr 1st 2008 4:02PM]

I hope this gets introduced as evidence in future lawsuits.

[helloUser @ Apr 1st 2008 3:24PM]

Good.

[Rafer @ Apr 1st 2008 3:24PM]

Thats quite a kick in the butt.

[GaryZ @ Apr 1st 2008 3:24PM]

lol, the irony!

[Mark @ Apr 1st 2008 3:31PM]

$475,000 is pocket-change for Sony, literally. This is nothing to them..

[phanbouy @ Apr 1st 2008 3:27PM]

maybe this'll sober up the BD fanboys a bit. nah... they were "victorious" in "war".. build a monument!

[phanbouy @ Apr 1st 2008 3:56PM]

uh oh.. media format warriors are downranking me. wahhh!

disclaimer: i am not an HD DVD fanboy and i approved of this taunt.

[Dave @ Apr 1st 2008 9:42PM]

Or maybe it's because this posting has nothing to do with the high def format war.

Just a thought.

[mymaclife @ Apr 2nd 2008 3:04AM]

There's Karma all over this site today!

[whatishalo? @ Apr 1st 2008 3:29PM]

Should have been 475 million to make it worthwhile...475K to Sony is chump change

[JimReaper @ Apr 1st 2008 4:13PM]

I think we noticed that

[riggs @ Apr 1st 2008 3:29PM]

more like sonyomg amirite?

[FoxHoundADAM @ Apr 1st 2008 3:30PM]

Now I don't feel so bad for making my "back up" copies of my various Sony albums.

[thehumanyawn @ Apr 1st 2008 3:32PM]

Just got to a computer, nice to see you pissing off Deutsche Telekom. Just leave the background up until they stop riding your ass.

[Dook_In_The_Urinal @ Apr 1st 2008 5:49PM]

Just got to a computer. Nice to see you double posting about something totally irrelevant and pissing off the other readers.

[thehumanyawn @ Apr 1st 2008 3:32PM]

Just got to a computer, nice to see you pissing off Deutsche Telekom. Just leave the background up until they stop riding your ass.

[aardvark sandwich @ Apr 1st 2008 4:04PM]

I hope they effing BLEEEEEEED.

[gabe @ Apr 1st 2008 3:39PM]

meh - i'm sure they can appeal or at least pay a smaller fine.

Life goes on.

[FGL82 @ Apr 1st 2008 3:40PM]

Just Testing my avatar...

[Aguiluz @ Apr 1st 2008 3:43PM]

Looks like it worked.

(Testing to get into my profile)

[Peter F @ Apr 1st 2008 3:43PM]

It'd only be better if they were caught using pirated copies of AnyDVD HD. *grumble* BD+ *grumble*

[phanbouy @ Apr 1st 2008 5:01PM]

oh sure, Pete can rail on DRM but I can't rail on BD fanboys. hmmm....

[Peter F @ Apr 1st 2008 5:14PM]

Hey, I got your back.

[Roy @ Apr 1st 2008 3:45PM]

kick ass!

[boredtoday @ Apr 1st 2008 3:45PM]

pfft! sony bmg's accounting write-offs are sure as hell bigger than this.

[kal326 @ Apr 1st 2008 3:49PM]

Hey pot, kettle called and sounded really pissed off about something.....

[Bob @ Apr 1st 2008 3:49PM]

Yeahhhhh Yeahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh yeahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

[nathan.wong @ Apr 1st 2008 3:50PM]

That's one big OUCH!

[Jared @ Apr 1st 2008 3:52PM]

Maybe this can somehow be used in court saying that Sony has no respect for the law, why should others honor their material?

[IT-Accountant @ Apr 1st 2008 3:55PM]

Oh, the sweet smell of justice...

I'll still never forget that rootkit on my PC.

[Normal @ Apr 1st 2008 3:56PM]

Best news I've heard in ages!

[emvxl @ Apr 1st 2008 6:16PM]

I agree with DWells55 - Hypocrites

[BuddyBoy @ Apr 1st 2008 4:03PM]

I think I remember this correctly but didn't Sony once cause a crazy apple and sony hook up related story after the apple logo was on the ps3 website. It turned out they used trial version of apple shake and it left a apple logo watermark. So not playing fair with software licenses doesn't surprise me.

[ryan @ Apr 1st 2008 4:13PM]

I hate April first. I am skeptical to believe anything I read on the internet today.

The irony of this is awesome if it is real.

[bobartig @ Apr 1st 2008 5:29PM]

Site from TFA says "posted 3 days 22 hours 37 minutes ago"

Hopefully they didnt licence google custom time for this.

[FrankTheCrank @ Apr 1st 2008 4:15PM]

Sometimes big companies aren't responsible for what their employees do.

I've worked in IT at many different companies where you have loose cannons who brings in their own software and decide to put that cracked, hacked or unlicensed software on a companies system.

It happens all the time.

[Rob @ Apr 1st 2008 4:26PM]

That is true. But that doesn't take away the sense of irony here considering Sony's anti-consumer tactics.

[Jared @ Apr 1st 2008 4:46PM]

Regardless, companies are responsible for the material their employees use on company workstations. This is kind of like the justification companies use for reading email, if the employee uses a companies' email for inappropriate activities, the company is still liable.

[Billy Gun @ Apr 1st 2008 4:37PM]

I worked in a very small company where no one was alowed (windows administrator restrictions) to install no software on the computers, what I want to say is that big companys can easly make restrictions and can even advice their employes for what their not alow to do. In this case the software was found on four PCs... So this mens that Sony internaly do not have any concern about piracy "of tird partys".

[Andrew @ Apr 1st 2008 5:08PM]

Doesn't always help. If your staff is IT (software development), they most likely HAVE to have admin access in order to do their jobs. While it is possible to avoid it, the administration overhead AND the productivity impact would be so high that it's better to just open it up and deal with any fallout (inappropriate use) as it happens. Usually they'd run routine checks to see what's installed and periodically send reminder emails and policy updates to keep chances of this happening low.

However, the OS is an exception, the ability to wipe out machine clean and just install any OS you want on it is not something you run into even in IT shops. Sysadmins should know what's on their network and can put a stop to this - unless they themselves are culprits. Not much you can do about that.

[kal326 @ Apr 1st 2008 11:55PM]

@FrankTheCrank

Sorry, but the RIAA already has blown holes clean through that defense. Remember those persons who's computers ended up with copyrighted material on THEIR computer because of a roommate, kid, friend, or hacker? The RIAA made it quite clear that it was on YOUR computer and they were dragging YOUR ass into court.

And on that note, I now need to figure out how to get a job with the RIAA and an administrator password......

[Jon @ Apr 1st 2008 4:25PM]

April Fools

[L.Rawlins @ Apr 1st 2008 4:52PM]

Customer Service: 'You do realise that you have just given me an illegal license number don't you? This call will have been recorded and your location can be traced...'

Sony I.T: '...'

Customer Service: 'Hello? Sir are you aware of your situation? You can and most likely will be prosecuted for this.'

Sony I.T: 'APRIL FOOL!!!'


BEEEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep.

[Splattman @ Apr 14th 2008 1:55PM]

the article was written March 21st...

[axia777 @ Apr 13th 2008 9:00PM]

Look at the Sony haters. How lame. As if Sony had anything to do with this asshat installing the software on their servers. You all are morons.

[uberlemurguy @ Apr 1st 2008 7:08PM]

EPIC FAIL!

[marty.com.au @ Apr 1st 2008 8:12PM]

This is a good thing. Sony has set a precedent here…
Just change the fine to be a % of income...
If a college student has to pay a $5000 and let’s say that’s 15% of his income for the year, the judge should say to Sony,
"Ok guys, we appreciate what you have done to clean up piracy, and as you have set the precedent of fining people 15% of their income (before expenses etc) we happily agree to using the model you approve of and are fining you 15% of your total revenue…. Let’s see 15% of 70.303 billion - that’s ummm.... $10.5 billion. You can keep the change. Thank you, have a nice day..."

[4.7onN20 @ Apr 1st 2008 11:25PM]

Agreed make it hurt like it hurts the average american, or better yet make it hurt like that lady who got sued for $200,000+ completely destroying her future.