The scandal erupted on October 31, 2005, when Winternals (later acquired by Microsoft Corporation) researcher Mark Russinovich posted to his blog a detailed description and technical analysis of F4I's XCP software that he ascertained had been recently installed on his computer by a Sony BMG music CD. Russinovich compared the software to a rootkit due to its surreptitious installation and its efforts to hide its existence. He noted that the EULA does not mention the software, and he asserted emphatically that the software is illegitimate and that digital rights management had "gone too far".