A scandal erupted in 2005 regarding
Sony BMG's implementation of
copy protectionmeasures on about 22 million
CDs. When inserted into a
computer, the CDs
installedone of two pieces of
software that provided a form of
digital rights management (DRM) by modifying the
operating system to interfere with
CD copying. Neither program could easily be uninstalled, and they created
vulnerabilities that were exploited by unrelated
malware. One of the programs would install and "
phone home" with reports on the user's
private listening habits, even if the user refused its
end-user license agreement(EULA), while the other was not mentioned in the EULA at all. Both programs contained code from several pieces of
copylefted free software in an apparent
infringement of copyright, and configured the operating system to hide the software's existence, leading to both programs being classified as
rootkits.