It cost Sony more than half a
Billion dollars just in fines and reparations in the 2005 rootkit scandal, and nobody knows how much in indirect expenses. (For example, I have not given Sony a dime of my money since 2005, and I hope that others have done the same.)
This could make the Sony scandal look like a tempest in a teapot.
My wife has a Samsung netbook that apparently is not affected (there is no C:\Windows\SL directory) but depending on how this develops, Samsung will forever be off my shopping list.
tanstaafl.