ArsTechnica is reporting that Sony’s lack of regard for its customers as well as the DMCA lead it to developing the now infamous CD rootkit.

“In a new paper examining the Sony BMG rootkit fiasco, a pair of lawyers argue that the music company didn’t just damage itself—it unwittingly struck a blow against DRM in general.

Deirdre Mulligan and Aaron Perzanowski are the authors of “The Magnificence of the Disaster,” which looks at the entire chronology of Sony BMG’s problems with CD copy protection technology in an attempt to understand just how the label could have made a blunder of this magnitude. The paper, published in the Berkeley Technology Law Journal, argues that the rootkit was the result of more than “utter disregard, or even contempt, for user security and privacy.” It was a product of market, technology, and legal factors that all encouraged Sony BMG to go forward with its ill-advised plan. “

Read the rest of the article here