The following compact discs, sold by Sony BMG, were shipped with the computer software known as Extended Copy Protection (XCP). [1] As a result, any Microsoft Windows computer that has been used to play these CDs is likely to have had XCP installed. This can cause a number of serious security problems. Several security software vendors, including Microsoft, regard XCP as a trojan horse, spyware, or rootkit. [2] MacOS systems that were used to play these CDs may have been affected with a similar program, MediaMax. [3]
Title | Artist | Item Number(s) | UPC(s) | Record Club Number |
---|---|---|---|---|
12 Songs | Neil Diamond | CK94776 CK97811 | 827969477625 827969781128 | — |
At This Time | Burt Bacharach | CK97734 | 827969773420 | — |
The Best of Shel Silverstein | Shel Silverstein | CK94722 | 827969472224 | D162100 |
Bob Brookmeyer & Friends | Bob Brookmeyer | CK94292 | 827969429228 | D162087 |
The Body Acoustic | Cyndi Lauper | EK94569 | 827969456927 | — |
Broken Valley | Life of Agony | EK93515 | 827969351529 | D161228 |
Cautivo | Chayanne | LAK96819 LAK96818 LAK95886 | 037629681921 037629681822 037629588626 | — |
Complicated | Nivea | 82876671562 | 828766715620 | D161353 |
The Dead 60s | The Dead 60s | EK94453 | 827969445327 | — |
Dreamin' My Dreams | Patty Loveless | EK94481 | 827969448120 | — |
Drum Suite | Art Blakey | CK93637 | 827969363720 | D162083 |
The Essential Dion | Dion | CK92670 | 827969267028 | D161439 |
The Essential Pete Seeger | Pete Seeger | CK92835 | 827969283523 | D161441 |
Faso Latido | A Static Lullaby | CK92772 | 827969277225 | D161263 |
Foggy Mountain Jamboree | Flatt & Scruggs | CK92801 | 827969280126 | D162400 |
Friendship | Ray Charles | CK94564 | 827969456422 | D161917 |
Get Right with the Man | Van Zant | CK93500 | 827969350027 | D161459 |
Golden | Elkland | CK92036 | 827969203620 | D161431 |
Great American Songbook | Billie Holiday | CK94294 | 827969429426 | — |
Great American Songbook | Frank Sinatra | CK94291 | 827969429129 | — |
Great American Songbook | Louis Armstrong | CK94295 | 827969429525 | — |
Healthy in Paranoid Times | Our Lady Peace | CK94777 | 827969477724 | — |
I Saw the Light With Some Help from My Friends | Earl Scruggs | CK92793 | 827969279328 | D162399 |
Interiors | Rosanne Cash | CK93655 | 827969365526 | — |
The Invisible Invasion | The Coral | CK94747 | 827969474723 | — |
Jeru | Gerry Mulligan | CK65498 | 074646549827 | D162086 |
King's Record Shop | Rosanne Cash | CK86994 | 696998699427 | — |
G3: Live in Tokyo | G3 | E2K97685 | 827969768525 | — |
Manhattan Symphonie | Dexter Gordon | CK93581 | 827969358122 | D162084 |
Mary Mary | Mary Mary | CK94812 CK92948 | 000768353721 827969294826 | D162005 |
My Very Special Guests | George Jones | E2K92562 | 827969256220 | D200250 |
Nothing Is Sound | Switchfoot | CK96534 CK96437 CK94581 | 827969653425 827969643723 827969458129 | — |
On ne change pas | Celine Dion | E2K97736 | 827969773628 | — |
Phantoms | Acceptance | CK89016 | 696998901629 | D161429 |
Ride | Shelly Fairchild | CK90355 | 827969035528 | D161531 |
Robbery | Teena Marie | EK93817 | 827969381724 | — |
The Season | Jane Monheit | EK97721 | 827969772126 | — |
Seven Year Ache | Rosanne Cash | CK86997 | 696998699724 | — |
Shine | Trey Anastasio | CK96428 | 827969642825 | — |
Silver's Blue | Horace Silver Quintet | CK93856 | 827969385623 | D162082 |
Bette Midler Sings the Peggy Lee Songbook | Bette Midler | CK95107 CK74815 | 827969510728 828767481524 | — |
Something to Be Proud Of: The Best of 1999–2005 | Montgomery Gentry | CK75324 CK94982 | 828767532424 827969498224 | — |
Susie Suh | Susie Suh | EK92443 | 827969244326 | D161094 |
Suspicious Activity? | The Bad Plus | CK94740 | 827969474020 | — |
This Is Niecy | Deniece Williams | CK93814 | 827969381427 | — |
Times Like These | Buddy Jewell | CK92873 | 827969287323 | D161532 |
To Love Again: The Duets | Chris Botti | CK94823 | 827969482322 | — |
Touch | Amerie | CK90763 | 827969076323 | D161365 |
Unfabulous and More | Emma Roberts | CK93950 CK97684 | 827969395028 827969768426 | — |
Unwritten | Natasha Bedingfield | EK93988 | 827969398821 | D162095 |
Vivian | Vivian Green | CK90761 | 827969076125 | D161824 |
Walking Among the Living | Jon Randall | EK92083 | 827969208328 | — |
Note: Three titles — Ricky Martin, "Life"; Peter Gallagher, "7 Days in Memphis"; and a limited number of “Hidden Beach Presents Unwrapped Vol. 4” — were released with a content protection grid on the back of the CD packaging but XCP content protection software was not actually included on the albums. [4]
A rootkit is a collection of computer software, typically malicious, designed to enable access to a computer or an area of its software that is not otherwise allowed and often masks its existence or the existence of other software. The term rootkit is a compound of "root" and the word "kit". The term "rootkit" has negative connotations through its association with malware.
Edward William Felten is the Robert E. Kahn Professor of Computer Science and Public Affairs at Princeton University, where he was also the director of the Center for Information Technology Policy from 2007 to 2015 and from 2017 to 2019. On November 4, 2010, he was named Chief Technologist for the Federal Trade Commission, a position he officially assumed January 3, 2011. On May 11, 2015, he was named the Deputy U.S. Chief Technology Officer. In 2018, he was nominated to and began a term as Board Member of PCLOB. Felten retired from Princeton University on July 1, 2021.
Sony BMG Music Entertainment was an American record company owned as a 50–50 joint venture between Sony Corporation of America and Bertelsmann. The venture's successor, the revived Sony Music, is wholly owned by Sony, following their buyout of the remaining 50% held by Bertelsmann. BMG was instead rebuilt as BMG Rights Management on the basis of 200 remaining artists.
Copy Control was the generic name of a copy prevention system, used from 2001 until 2006 on several digital audio disc releases by EMI Group and Sony BMG Music Entertainment in several regions. It should not be confused with the CopyControl computer software copy protection system introduced by Microcosm Ltd in 1989.
MediaMax, sometimes referred to as MediaMax CD-3 is a software package created by SunnComm which was sold as a form of copy protection for compact discs. It was used by the record label RCA Records/BMG, and targets both Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X. Elected officials and computer security experts regard the software as a form of malware since its purpose is to intercept and inhibit normal computer operation without the user's authorization. MediaMax received media attention in late 2005 in fallout from the Sony XCP copy protection scandal.
The Dead 60s is the eponymous debut album by British rock band The Dead 60s. It was first released in the United States on 31 May 2005. The office building on the album cover is Concourse House, which once stood next to Liverpool Lime Street railway station. It was demolished as part of a regeneration of the area surrounding the station.
The Invisible Invasion is the fourth studio album by English rock band the Coral. It was released on 23 May 2005, through Deltasonic. Following on from the stop-gap release of the mini album Nightfreak and the Sons of Becker (2004), the band began recording their next album with Geoff Barrow and Adrian Utley of Portishead as producers. Sessions were mainly held at Monnow Valley Studio, with additional recording being done at Elevator Studios. Described as a psychedelia album, it had more of a stripped-down sound compared to their past releases.
Nothing Is Sound is the fifth studio album by American alternative rock band Switchfoot. It was released on September 13, 2005 and debuted at number three on the Billboard 200. The first single from the album was "Stars," which was the number one most-added song on Modern Rock Radio and received much airplay on alternative rock stations upon release. A second single, "We Are One Tonight," was released in early 2006, though it did not enjoy much success on the Billboard charts.
CD/DVD copy protection is a blanket term for various methods of copy protection for CDs and DVDs. Such methods include DRM, CD-checks, Dummy Files, illegal tables of contents, over-sizing or over-burning the CD, physical errors and bad sectors. Many protection schemes rely on breaking compliance with CD and DVD standards, leading to playback problems on some devices.
12 Songs is the twenty-sixth studio album by Neil Diamond, released in 2005. It was his first studio album since 2001's Three Chord Opera. It was produced by Rick Rubin.
Life is the eighth studio album and the third English album recorded by Puerto Rican performer Ricky Martin. It was released by Columbia Records on October 10, 2005, in Europe, October 11, 2005, in the US and October 19, 2005, in Japan.
Extended Copy Protection (XCP) is a software package developed by the British company First 4 Internet and sold as a copy protection or digital rights management (DRM) scheme for Compact Discs. It was used on some CDs distributed by Sony BMG and sparked the 2005 Sony BMG CD copy protection scandal; in that context it is also known as the Sony rootkit.
In 2005 it was revealed that the implementation of copy protection measures on about 22 million CDs distributed by Sony BMG installed one of two pieces of software that provided a form of digital rights management (DRM) by modifying the operating system to interfere with CD copying. Neither program could easily be uninstalled, and they created vulnerabilities that were exploited by unrelated malware. One of the programs would install and "phone home" with reports on the user's private listening habits, even if the user refused its end-user license agreement (EULA), while the other was not mentioned in the EULA at all. Both programs contained code from several pieces of copylefted free software in an apparent infringement of copyright, and configured the operating system to hide the software's existence, leading to both programs being classified as rootkits.
Cactus Data Shield (CDS) is a form of CD/DVD copy protection for audio compact discs developed by Israeli company Midbar Technologies. It has been used extensively by EMI, BMG and their subsidiaries. CDS relies on two components: Erroneous Disc Navigation and Data Corruption.
Faso Latido is the second album by post-hardcore band A Static Lullaby. It was released in 2005 on Columbia Records, making it their only release on a major label. This album is one of the albums known to be affected by Extended Copy Protection. This is the last album with all five original members. Before Phil Pirrone and Nate Lindeman left to form Casket Salesmen as well as the departure of former drummer Brett Dinovo. The album was originally to be titled "Watch the Sunlight Burn", but was changed prior to its release. A music video was created for the song "Stand Up".
Dreamin' My Dreams is the fourteenth album of original recordings by Patty Loveless. Released in September 2005, the album debuted on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart on October 1, 2005 at #29, staying on the charts for 8 weeks until November 26, 2005.
Seven Year Ache is the third studio album by American country music singer Rosanne Cash, and her second for Columbia Records. It was released on February 28, 1981, and reached number one on the Billboard country album chart. Three singles were released from her album; in the order of the singles' release they were: the title track, My Baby Thinks He's a Train, and Blue Moon with Heartache.
Mary Mary is the third studio album by American duo Mary Mary. It was released by Columbia Records on July 19, 2005 in the United States, selling 57,000 copies in its first week. In 2006, the album won a Dove Award for Contemporary Gospel Album of the Year at the 37th GMA Dove Awards.
My Very Special Guests is a duet album by American country music artist George Jones, released in 1979 by Epic Records.