They say that with DRM (Digital Rights Management) it is possible to clean up the mess that is on-line music and video piracy. But not if your name is Sony! The nippon conglomerate employed a company to install a DRM system called XCP on their CDs and DVDs. This guy at Sysinternals smelt a rat and has outed the closet music company.

OK! PC users have to agree to use a "special" Sony player when they load a Sony CD. Fine I guess. They agree not to make more than 3 copies of the CD - fair enough. But the wheels fall of Sony's integrity wagon when you find out a couple of other things about that fatal "I agree" click.

Hackers, anyone?

The software installs itself on your computer, completely hidden from your Operating System. It employs a trick common with hackers, whereby, if you place a couple of $ signs here or there in the file name, not even the Operating System can see it! That naughty file is literally invisible, cloaked like a Klingon. Without some very sophisticated software that only Dr Spock could possibly understand it will function hidden, undetected. And even when found, you need to know how to kill it. Not the average computer klutz knows these things.

Sony phone home

Then Sony adds insult to injury by ensuring the software you installed in good faith as a measure against sneaky behavior, phones home to Sony, telling the marketeers EXACTLY what music from Sony you are listening to - or DVDs you are watching. How embarrassing that the Tokyo nosey parkers can track how many times you boogie on down to Christina Aguilera

And thirdly, according to the omniscient Leo Laporte of TWiT tv, the software is written very badly too.

What do you say to that, Sony?! And if you try and wriggle out of it, just take a look again at the very geeky blog by Sysinternals who deconstructed the whole sorry mess, proving beyond doubt that the corporate giant has been taking the piss out of its customers better than any pisstaking bloggers like us could ever hope to do.