I'm about a month behind on catching up with my /. reading, but I read today about the final chapter in the Sony Rootkit affair. Sony BMG settled with the states of Texas and California to the tune of $750,000 each, plus $175 to any user that can document their machine was damaged by trying to removed the rootkit.

While it's nice that Sony was made to pay a pittance for their crime, I can't help wondering what would have happened to a greasy 22 year old geek that had perpetrated the same "crime".

The lack of crippling fines and jailtime highlights that there is a disparity between what's just punishment for a citizen and what's just punishment for a wealthy corporation.