Sony literally distributed a rootkit in the guise of DRM for Audio CDs back when piracy meant CD-R distribution.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony_BMG_copy_protection_rootk...

Anyone remotely surprised at their history of utter contempt for the end-user need only remind themselves of SVP Steve Heckler's remarks to conference attendee's in 2000

"The industry will take whatever steps it needs to protect itself and protect its revenue streams ... It will not lose that revenue stream, no matter what ... Sony is going to take aggressive steps to stop this. We will develop technology that transcends the individual user."

https://web.archive.org/web/20090318115847/http://www.nyfair...

The remarks of Stewart Baker of the DHS admonishing Sony are as relevant today as they were then; namely that "it's your intellectual property - it's not your computer."

https://web.archive.org/web/20051229031842/http://www.mp3new...

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azalemeth a day ago | parent [-]

I haven't bought a single Sony product since then. I used to have a Sony walkman, clock radio, buy classical Sony CDs (or their sub brands), etc, nearly got an original PlayStation.

I wrote a letter to them after the rootkit fiasco saying they've lost a consumer for life. Didn't get a real response. Wrote to them last anti DRM day. Didn't get a response.

Really, this is the only power one has in capitalism -- don't buy their products.

	▲	melevittfl 12 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Same for me. I have boycotted Sony since the rootkit fiasco. I’m also still angry that, even though intentionally hacking a computer system is a criminal offence, not a single Sony employee was prosecuted or even arrested. Sony committed a crime on a massive scale that any individual would have been convicted of and spent years in jail for. They did it knowingly and for financial gain. They should be behind bars.