This is as good a summary as any of Sony’s Escalating « Spyware » Fiasco, or how to treat all your customers as potential thieves with disastrous consequences.
According to at least one report I have read, 500000 networks have been infected by malicious code piggybacking on the Sony copy-protection code.
From a corporate perspective, pirating isn’t a scourge. It is free marketing.
I used to work for one of the largest software companies in the world that made leading utility and anti-virus software. By day, our CEO would complain about and campaign against piracy. In private, he would say that young pirates who became familiar with our software would be the corporate nerds who would later purchase the software for their companies. Much cheaper and much more efficient than taking ads in the corporate press, and paying for booths at corporate shows.
CD sales are down because people who used to buy only music now also buy DVD’s and video games, and also because music is too expensive, and is mostly crap. Most studies that try to evaluate the impact of piracy say it’s pretty much a wash (lost sales vs. increased sales due to the free marketing effect).