Evidence mounts that Sony BMG knew that their new XCP copy protection scheme posed a security risk to consumers before the issue went public, but went ahead with it anyway... Or, as Ed Felten puts it:
We know already that entertainment companies want to redesign our computers in the hope (which is ultimately futile) of stopping copying. From there, it’s not so large a step to decide that users’ security simply must be sacrificed on the altar of copy protection.
Thank God at least for NY state Attorney General and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Elliot Spitzer, who launched an investigation into the matter last month. This wouldn't be the first time that Sony and other recording companies came under the Spitzer microscope. In May 2004, Sony and several other companies agreed to return nearly $50 million in unclaimed royalties to thousands of unpaid artists that they couldn't bother tracking down.
Apparently the recording industry will go to extreme and even illegal lengths to protect its own profits, but not those of the artists on whom it depends. Or, in Sony BMG's own words:
Going forward, we will continue to identify new ways to meet demands for flexibility in how you and other consumers listen to music.
Can't wait for that!
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