Before Sony started installing rootkits on everybodys computers using the First 4 Internet DRM, they were installing other DRM software called SunnComm MediaMax. This is the infamous DRM software that could be bypassed by just holding down the shift key as you inserted the CD (thus bypassing the AutoRun feature of Windows.)
Ed Foster has an interesting column about Sony’s behaviour.
While Halderman found no evidence of SunnComm’s MediaMax using a rootkit, some of the things he did discover provide considerable grist for our behavioral profile of Sony. For one thing, before users can even say yes or no to accepting the Sony EULA, MediaMax has already installed a dozen files on their hard drive and started running the copy protection code. The files remain even if the user rejects the EULA, and the Sony CDs provide no option for uninstalling the files at a later date.
Boing Boing has also published their Part III of the Sony rootkit roundup. (Part I and Part II)
