It would appear that Sony has reached some kind of unpublicized settlement with the FTC? concerning their “RootKit” malware the corporation used in its music CDs last year, that was basically a virus that then left their victims open to more viruses.
Sony agreed to pay a fine of $4.5 million and up to $150 to any person who could prove damages, but I’ll bet that will be quite like the MCI rebates I signed up for and never got. I did know someone who actually went through all the hassle for the price- fixing rebates among the majority of major CD makers, but there the actual payout for ALL the CDs in question was somewhere not outside the $10-$20 range, only worth it if you framed a check, and put it on the wall next to the CD case.
Sony BMG also won the right to claim they didn’t break the law, in return for their money.
BTW, it would also appear that some of the fixes Sony provided, not sure which ones, caused more troubles than they cured, thus more possible damages.
This has not been reported in any major media that I know of in the days since it happened, Google News Search seems to only be getting hits from the technomedia.
— Michael Hart