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Worms Security IT

Creative MP3 Players Ship With Virus 237

Posted by Zonk from the surprise-in-your-cereal dept.
TheChillPill wrote to mention a Register article which reports that Creative has instituted a recall for some 5GB Zen Neeons. The reason? About 3,700 were shipped with the Wullik-B email worm. From the article: "Creative is reporting that the virus affects players with serial numbers between 1230528000001 and 1230533001680 that have shipped in Japan in late July. According to a translation of Creative's statement (in Japanese) on the security flap the firm has temporarily stopped shipping Zen Neeons players while its partners assist in the recall of the infected batch. The firm said it has identified the source of the outbreak and fixed the problem. Creative said the virus contamination issue was confined to Zen Neeons players and didn't affect any of its other products."
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Creative MP3 Players Ship With Virus More

Creative MP3 Players Ship With Virus

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  • How many more times, Zonk??? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by TripMaster Monkey ( 862126 ) * on Thursday September 01, 2005 @12:32PM (#13455366)

    Article is yet another dupe....original article can be found here [slashdot.org].

    Seriously, Zonk...this shit just isn't funny anymore. Perhaps you view your endless dupe posts as some sort of clever social commentary...or perhaps you've just taken a few too many sniffs of the huffing rag. Either way, we're getting pretty damned sick of it.

    Do us all a favor and resign. While you're at it, wipe your hard drive and smash your modem.

    • Re:How many more times, Zonk??? (Score:5, Funny)

      by justforaday ( 560408 ) on Thursday September 01, 2005 @12:34PM (#13455399)
      Well, that story was dealing with worms, and this one is dealing with viruses, so they're very clearly different stories...

    • Re:How many more times, Zonk??? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by garcia ( 6573 ) * on Thursday September 01, 2005 @12:35PM (#13455409)
      It's not as if Zonk isn't being notified [slashdot.org].

      Think I'll get modded redundant this time?
      • Has /. has ever pulled a story for being a dupe, hoax or otherwise bogus? ...thinkin' they ought to.

        OTOH, these blatent dupes seem to be one of the things that comprises slashdot's character. We certainly wouldn't want it to become a Fark clone or anything else as insipid.

    • Come on, Slashdotters. What's with the frowns on everyone's faces. Why is everyone taking these dupes so negatively? Just think of these dupes as reruns. We would love to crack jokes about Windows viruses, talk about how Linux should be used for everything, talk about how "creative" stuffing viruses in MP3 players are, and....

      Oh, scratch the sarcasm. These dupes really are annoying.

    • Re: How many more times, Zonk??? (Score:5, Informative)

      by Black Parrot ( 19622 ) on Thursday September 01, 2005 @12:45PM (#13455517)


      > Seriously, Zonk...this shit just isn't funny anymore.

      1) Visit http://slashdot.org/users.pl?op=edithome [slashdot.org]

      2) Un-check "Zonk"

      3) Click "Save"

      4) See ya in another thread.

    • Article is yet another dupe....original article can be found here.

      Normally, I can't stand when people bitch and moan about duped stories. Sometimes they're duped from months ago, and even I forgot they were ever posted.

      Normally, I would moderate such bitchings as "Offtopic" or "Redundent".

      This time, I'm very disappointed. This was:
      a) Very, very, very recently posted already
      b) Was a very distinct headline to begin with, about a major corporate SNAFU and not relating to Google, Xbox 360 vs. PS3, M

      • I missed the original story on Slashdot, but figured it must be a dupe because it's a good slashdot story and it's several days old - saw it on some of my other RSS feeds.
      • I think the point is that this can be avoided by simple checks. If the staff of slashdot truly are tech savy like they portray themselves then why do we see duplicates? Most geeks I know pride themselves on attention to detail. So where is this?

        Also, it portrays them as not caring. If that's the case then we all understand. I don't care about a lot of stuff. But at my _job_ I'm expected to produce quality work, not slacker garbage. These guys are employed right? And they make money right by us all being her
    • OK, yeah, it's a dupe, but

      a- the original article summary didn't mention an mp3 player. ("Creative Zens"? WTF's a Creative Zens? Who cares?!) I didn't give it a second glance and didn't know it was a dupe till just now

      b- the original article summary didn't mention serial numbers- NOR did the articles pointed to- this is very useful and important info. But yeah, that info should have been put in as a reply to the original post, just as the orinal post should have been clearer.

      ScuttleMonkey- you're not as bad

    • Dupe Checker? (Score:2, Insightful)

      by ackthpt ( 218170 )
      Article is yet another dupe

      I'm disgustipated.

      I can't post from home because some crud-bucket on my ISP has misbehaved and slashdot is blocking me from posting there. Such creativity and innovation! Examples:

      • Bar posting due to a spate of negative mods (never mind net total is positive.)
      • Time delay for initial post
      • Time delay between posts, longer for AC
      • Content check for CAPS, too few letters per line, oddball characters appear too often, etc.

      YET(!) no dupe checking code to help the editors avoid thi

    • I missed it last time. I'm glad they duped it now I have two sets of replies to read.
    • I'm not so pissed off at dupes, they just tell me that they don't really care, especially after being notified and after all the screaming slashdotters after every dupe. It's kind of a first sign that I should look elsewhere.

      But, since the number of bogus stories, advertisements presented as stories, and link summary stories have really gone up recently, I've been looking more and more at other similar sites...

      What do you guys recommend as good alternatives? Something with good/relevant or at least funny co
    • It's a self-replicating article virus which ships with some copies of slashdot.
    • Gah, I remember this dupe! Sheesh, I think Zonk is slacking off. :( Maybe /. should hire me! [grin]

  • Windows TCO? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by gbulmash ( 688770 ) * <semi_famous@ya h o o .com> on Thursday September 01, 2005 @12:32PM (#13455369) Homepage Journal
    Now the question is, will the next analyst who does a Windows vs. Linux TCO comparison include "gets viruses into your product, requiring a recall" as one of the factors in calculating the cost of Windows?

    - Greg

    • wait 3 days for the dupe article, then argue your case ;)

      but seriously, how many other products have shipped with virii? i can think of 0 for linux/bsd/etc. but i can also think of 0 for windows also.

      • I can't remember specifics, but there have been a number of software vendors who've gotten burned by shipping a virus with their product over the years, going back to the early 90's.
    • Are you saying that no F/OSS product has ever shipped with a back door, trojan, or other nastiness? I'm not saying it's a common occurence, but it's certainly going to be harder to spot than a virus.

      Read the history of Ken Thompson's famous back door in the early Unix C compiler versions. Shows just what's possible when someone really knows what they're doing.

  • Unbelievable (Score:5, Funny)

    by kneecarrot ( 646291 ) * on Thursday September 01, 2005 @12:32PM (#13455374)
    Oh my, I just can't believe how irresponsible Creative is being. This is the second [slashdot.org] time that they have shipped 3700 of these players with this exact same virus in less than a week!

  • Dupe... once again (Score:3, Insightful)

    by andersbergh ( 884714 ) on Thursday September 01, 2005 @12:32PM (#13455375)
    Stop the dupes!

  • no way!! (Score:4, Funny)

    by tont0r ( 868535 ) on Thursday September 01, 2005 @12:32PM (#13455379)
    http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/08/ 30/0118252&tid=184&tid=220 [slashdot.org]
    holy crap. never knew that.

  • Screeech! (Score:3, Funny)

    by andrew1222 ( 906582 ) * on Thursday September 01, 2005 @12:33PM (#13455382) Homepage
    Wonder what a virus sounds like through those earphones? Ashley Simpson?
    • Thats the real reason they're recalling it. It's not a virus at all, its just the unmastered version of her duet with Hillary Duff.

      B.T.W. who TF is Nick Cannon and why is he staring in a bad Beverly Hills Cop/21 Jump Street rip-off?

  • Hmm (Score:3, Funny)

    by twocoasttb ( 601290 ) on Thursday September 01, 2005 @12:34PM (#13455393)
    Does their patent cover this too?

  • Zonk (Score:4, Insightful)

    by pete-classic ( 75983 ) <hutnick@gmail.com> on Thursday September 01, 2005 @12:34PM (#13455398) Homepage Journal
    Like deja vu all over again. [slashdot.org]

    The original story. [slashdot.org]

    -Peter

  • But... (Score:4, Funny)

    by TheOtherAgentM ( 700696 ) on Thursday September 01, 2005 @12:34PM (#13455401)
    The question is, who owns the patent on shipping MP3 players with viruses? Will they take legal action?

  • No subscription for me (Score:5, Insightful)

    by the_rev_matt ( 239420 ) <slashbot AT revmatt DOT com> on Thursday September 01, 2005 @12:36PM (#13455427) Homepage
    It's been said a million times, but this is precisely why I won't pay for a slashdot subscription. Nor will I click on any ads. Even if I see an ad that looks interesting (which is fairly often, I'll open a new tab and browse there manually rather than give slashdot the traffic revenue. An occasional dupe is one thing, but when 25% of the stories on the front page are dupes from YESTERDAY, it's clear that OSDN doesn't give a shit about quality.

    • Re:No subscription for me (Score:5, Funny)

      by Patrik_AKA_RedX ( 624423 ) on Thursday September 01, 2005 @12:42PM (#13455480) Journal
      Well, /. looks more and more like TV each day. Ads, reruns. One of these days they'll start doing news items and weather forcasts.
    • Slashdot used to not suck. It seems when you add money and greed to -anything- it becomes a polished TURD.
    • it's clear that OSDN doesn't give a shit about quality

      Look, it's fine if you think Slashdot sucks. But find something more interesting to do than bemoan the fact.

      Find a better site. (Technocrat?) Start one. Use a Bayesian Classifier from the RSS feed. Learn to speak Swahili.

      But don't continue to make your life miserable.

  • Care to wager if Creative has a patent on shipping MP3 players with pre-installed viruses? :)

  • On the question of what happened to Slashdot (Score:5, Funny)

    by Haiku 4 U ( 580059 ) on Thursday September 01, 2005 @12:37PM (#13455433)
    I remember when
    Slashdot gave me articles
    that weren't day-old bread.

    Eat them anyway!
    Karma be dammed, you'll read them
    and come back for more!

  • Good to see (Score:5, Funny)

    by justforaday ( 560408 ) on Thursday September 01, 2005 @12:37PM (#13455436)
    It's good to see that Taco worked incredibly hard to make Zonk the editorbot in his own image...

  • Don't blame Zonk! (Score:5, Funny)

    by asdfasdfasdfasdf ( 211581 ) on Thursday September 01, 2005 @12:38PM (#13455438)
    Actually, the virus causes reposts on the slashdot homepage. Apparently, he bought himself a Zen recently.

  • Had to say it... (Score:3, Funny)

    by KoolDude ( 614134 ) on Thursday September 01, 2005 @12:38PM (#13455441)

    Now, *that's* Creative.
  • Slashdot dupe posts with virus.

    To late, folks.

  • Ugh ... (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Sonic McTails ( 700139 )
    So how long until we see a dupe of this dupe?

    Seriously, searching the site doesn't take long, and now uses Google to do it, A quick search of Creative and virus would have found the original. You see? [google.com]
  • An excellent article, sir, with only two minor drawbacks: One, we already know about this FREE virus shipment and two, we we already know about this FREE virus shipment. Now I know technically speaking that's only one article, but I thought it was such a big one, it was worth mentioning twice.

    (Modified. Original from Red Dwarf, Holoship)
  • When I was working at Atari, an XBox master disc had to be recalled from manufacturing because a PC virus was found. It was caught early enough that there was no significant delay for the product. I'm surprised stuff like this doesn't happen more often.
  • Betcha they patented this innovative new interface, too: Method and Apparatus for the Propagation of Computer Viruses Via Music Player!
  • What a wonderfully Creative way to distribute virii!
    • What scares me about this is if you can distribute viruses via mp3 players, imagine what will happen when normal household appliances get computerised!

      My car will drive itself to Mexico without me, the door will let salesman into the house, and worse of all, my satellite box will make me watch through commercials as the sofa straps me in and winches my eyelids open...

      Now I know why the amish community reject technology altogether.

  • Dear Slashdot, (Score:5, Insightful)

    by sootman ( 158191 ) on Thursday September 01, 2005 @01:03PM (#13455673) Homepage Journal
    You know, with just the tiniest bit of effort, it would be SO easy for you not to suck out loud.
    - take two seconds to see if a story has been posted before. sounds hard, but I hear computers can do amazing things these days.
    - proofread submissions. you're allowed to change them. you know, like an editor.
    - don't put an obnoxious slant on every little thing. more reporting, less commentary. if you have something to say, I hear slashdot allows comments nowadays. (comments, commentary... hmm. note to self, investigate possible connection.)
    - cache. for fuck's sake, it's not funny anymore. if you don't want to put yourselves at risk, use coral or a similar service. They exist for a reason.
    - contact small sites. which would you rather do: "scoop" other sites by an hour and reduce the server to molten rubble after 15 minutes, or contact the admin ahead of time and post the story two hours later? this is what separates responsible adults from behaviorally-challenged fuckwads.
    - and once you've earned some credibility back,
    - ???
    - Profit! Until then, I refuse to pay to subscribe until you behave like a responsible outfit. one you quit behaving like retarded woms, I'll happily subscribe, knowing that you're a great source of links to interesting stories that I *didn't* see two days ago on the same site.

    • Re:Dear Slashdot, (Score:5, Interesting)

      by djh101010 ( 656795 ) * on Thursday September 01, 2005 @01:14PM (#13455769) Homepage Journal
      For the record, subscribers _do_ see stories before they're posted to the world. And, there's a link to click "If you see a serious problem with this article, click here" which is a mailto: to someone "at" slashdot.

      That said, I've used it twice, and both stories went green "as-is" with the glaring problems, so I don't know if that goes to the bit-bucket, or if anyone is listening. Maybe nobody said "Hey, this is a dupe" at that point, or maybe, just maybe, nobody is reading those messages. Any internal slashdotty-type person care to comment?
      • Any internal slashdotty-type person care to comment?

        lol. that'll be the day.
      • Yer kidding me, they actually have a mechanism for subscribers to point out a dupe and they don't use it? Are they insane?

        • Re:Dear Slashdot, (Score:4, Interesting)

          by Phroggy ( 441 ) * <slashdot3@@@phroggy...com> on Thursday September 01, 2005 @02:10PM (#13456356) Homepage
          Yer kidding me, they actually have a mechanism for subscribers to point out a dupe and they don't use it? Are they insane?

          That's correct. When a new story is posted, it is first available only to subscribers, with a red title bar so you can see it's a preview, posting is disabled, and there's an e-mail link for subscribers to report problems. I've never received a reply to anything I've sent there, and although they do sometimes withdraw a story after posting it for subscribers but before making it available to the rest of you, I haven't seen any evidence that anyone actually monitors that e-mail address, and certainly not on any sort of regular basis.

  • Zonk Exposed (Score:2, Interesting)

    by p0 ( 740290 )
    First take a look at his Slashdot page : www.slashdot.org/~zonk [slashdot.org]

    There is a link to his blog: http://www.randomdialogue.net/ [randomdialogue.net]

    His Mini Biography: http://www.randomdialogue.net/aboutme/minibio.php3 [randomdialogue.net]

    His Blogger Profile: http://www.blogger.com/profile/10483795 [blogger.com]

    His About Page: http://www.randomdialogue.net/aboutme/basicinfo.ph p3 [randomdialogue.net]

    The rest is upto your imagination!
  • It creates duplicate stories daily!!!
  • So was this bad press for Creative dupe put here as revenge because the editors love Apple and hate any company that would dare challenge Apple, especially with a frivolous patent?
  • This article refered to a virus, while the previous "dupe" refered to a worm. Maybe the guy thought that the 2 cases are different? Heh.

  • "dupe"? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by abiessu ( 74684 ) on Thursday September 01, 2005 @01:16PM (#13455795) Journal
    Normally I'd side with all those screaming "DUPE!", but this is a new article on theregister about this issue (1200 GMT 2005-09-01), so it's not like the links or even the summary are duped. Especially since this time they're talking about the recall rather than the discovery of the virus.

    As an aside, what was up with the first article? A link to a babelfish translation... was no english version available? If that's all we had two or three days ago, it seems to me that this new article reference is a good thing.
    • this time they're talking about the recall rather than the discovery of the virus
       
      In that case, this story belongs in a slashback, not a new article. Honestly, why Zonk hasn't yet been fired for incompetance is beyond me.
    • We wouldn't all be saying dupe if the title wasn't:

      Creative MP3 Players Ship With Virus
      Zonk in Slashdot

      The last one was titled:

      Creative Zens Ship with Worms
      ScuttleMonkey in Slashdot

      Now, what would maybe make this not a dupe, or would irritate me less, is if the new title was "Creative Announces Recall for Infected Players" (including text like "Tuesday we reported that Creative sucked, but today ...". At that point it would seem like this is a followup and not just another indication that the editors don't

  • I wonder... (Score:3, Funny)

    by pwnage ( 856708 ) on Thursday September 01, 2005 @01:16PM (#13455799)
    Will Creative patent this "method for the distribution of malicious software code via aninferior hardware entertainment device."

    They could license it and make millions!!!

  • When "News for Netrds" Mattered (Score:4, Insightful)

    by amichalo ( 132545 ) on Thursday September 01, 2005 @01:19PM (#13455826)
    I have resisted bandwagoning the dupe article issue but my spin is a little different...

    How do the dupe articles make it through when I submit [slashdot.org] articles that get rejected - like news on non-volitile MRAM replacing volitile DRAM and how Freescale is getting closer and closer to this being reality.

    That's something nerds can sink their teath into, but the editors reject it for "more of the same".
  • What's amazing to me is that it took me two seconds to find the dupe in my RSS reader. If I were the editor of a site which syndicated news, I would definitely keep a long history of articles cached in my RSS reader for quick referencing. It's the best way to see if the tidbit has already been posted, and also to find related articles from the past.
  • It can't be slashdot. They clearly don't read the articles here. So where are they? Is it better? Is it cool?

    -ave

  • topic image? (Score:3, Funny)

    by signingis ( 158683 ) <signingis AT hotmail DOT com> on Thursday September 01, 2005 @02:19PM (#13456483) Journal
    I want to know when we're going to have a topic image for Dupes. :)
  • Seriously folks, we should be happy for the OSDN team. I mean, it takes serious guts to continually hire "special" people as editors. And perhaps, by being constantly exposed to ADD and ADHD sufferers, we can learn to understand and help these poor people. Because that has to be the only fudging explanation for this constant piss-poor stuff. Seriously, would it be so hard to set some ground rules in place?

    - Thou shalt do a basic keyword search before posting an article to see if it has been don
  • Well, with regard to Microsoft's "Plays For Sure" logo campaign, I suppose this also includes viruses.

  • ...AND IT'S STILL NOT 3,700 UNITS; IT'S 5% OF THAT (Score:3, Informative)

    by ickoonite ( 639305 ) on Thursday September 01, 2005 @07:59PM (#13459718) Homepage
    ...as I commented [slashdot.org] the last time this was posted (full translation here [slashdot.org]).

    Idiots.

    iqu :|

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