Sony BMG Music Entertainment has identified over two-dozen more copy-protected titles that pose a computer security risk to consumers.
The latest batch of CDs come from the major label’s other leading copy protection technology partner, SunnComm, and include recent releases from Alicia Keys, Britney Spears, Chris Brown, David Gray, My Morning Jacket, and Santana. A full list of titles, 27 in all, can be found at here. An estimated 6 million discs featuring the technology, known as MediaMax version 5, are believed to be in distribution.
The disclosure comes on the heels of a Nov. 15 decision by Sony BMG to recall roughly 5 million titles featuring XCP content-protection software from U.K. security specialist First 4 Internet due to security problems with the technology.
The security flaw with MediaMax was flagged by The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and security firm iSEC Partners.
On November 21, the EFF, along with the law firms of Green Welling, LLP, and Lerach, Coughlin, Stoia, Geller, Rudman and Robbins, LLP, filed a California class action lawsuit in Los Angeles against Sony BMG for its use of XCP and SunnComm technology on its CDs. The EFF also filed a national class action suit in New York on Dec. 2 joined by the Law Offices of Lawrence E. Feldman and Associates.
Sony BMG and SunnComm, in conjunction with the EFF and iSEC, on Dec. 6 announced the release of a patch to resolve the MediaMax security vulnerability.
However the next day the EFF released a statement recommending that consumers do not use the patch, as well as a previously released MediaMax uninstaller, because research from Princeton professors Ed Felton and J. Alex Halderman indicates the so-called solutions also pose computer security risks.
