After a crazy 10 days of discoveries, denials, and just plain foolish responses to the controversy, Sony has halted production of CDs using the Rootkit DRM Scheme. They will continue to use copy protection software that doesn't install the rootkits. From reading their statement, my nagging, cyncial, suspcion is that the only reason the put a halt to the production line is the fact that other malware malefactors had already taken advantage of the problems Sony caused.
UPDATE: Apparently the Department Of Homeland Security also weighed in on Sony's Rootkit DRM scheme, albeit indirectly. DHS Assistant Secretary for Policy, Stewart Baker, speaking at an event about combating intellectual property theft, said:
"There's been a lot of publicity recently about tactics used in pursuing protection for music and DVD CDs in which questions have been raised about whether the protection measures install hidden files on peoples' computers that even the system administrators can’t find...It's very important to remember that it's your intellectual property -- it's not your computer. And in the pursuit of protection of intellectual property, it's important not to defeat or undermine the security measures that people need to adopt in these days. "
