Spyware is often viewed as an aggravation and a potential invasion of privacy. However, it can be more than that, as shown by the Sony case that started last year. As one of the world's largest suppliers of recorded music, Sony is concerned about music piracy. Legitimately, since music piracy costs the indistry an estimated 4.2 billion annually in the US alone. In recent years, the fight has gone underground, through the use of various types of digital protection. The Sony case involved the sale of CD's that contained programs for use on PC's. When inserted into PC's, the autorun feature takes over and installs a "rootkit", a small program that resides inside the PC's registry and serves to shield certain tracking cookies installed by Sony. The big problem is that the rootkit could also shield programs used by hackers, thus opening up the computers to hacker attacks. This unintended consequence raises a serious question as to the use of invasive technology by groups such as the music industry. How far should they be allowed to go to protect their interests? Technology Review: Emerging Technologies and their Impact