Texans are now potential victims of this deceptive game Sony played with consumers for its own purposes." In addition to violations of the Consumer Protection Against Computer Spyware Act of 2005, which allowed for civil penalties of $100,000 for each violation of the law, the alleged violations added in the updated lawsuit carried maximum penalties of $20,000 per violation. Sony was ordered to pay $750,000 in legal fees to Texas, accept customer returns of affected CDs, place a conspicuous detailed notice on its homepage, make "keyword buys" to alert consumers by advertising with Google, Yahoo! and MSN, pay up to $150 per damaged computer and agree to other remedies. Sony BMG also had to agree that it would not bring any claim that the legal settlement in any way constitutes the approval of the court. New York and California class-action suits Class-action suits were filed against Sony BMG in New York and California. On December 30, 2005, the New York Times reported that Sony BMG had reached a tentative settlement of the lawsuits, proposing two ways of compensating consumers who had purchased the affected CDs. According to the proposed settlement, those who had purchased an XCP CD would be paid $7.50 per purchased recording and provided the opportunity to download either a free album or three additional albums from a limited list of recordings if they elected to forgo the cash incentive. District judge Naomi Reice Buchwald entered an order tentatively approving the settlement on January 6, 2006. The settlement was designed to compensate those whose computers were infected but were not otherwise damaged. Those who had incurred damages not addressed in the class-action suit were free to opt out of the settlement and pursue their own litigation. A fairness hearing was held on May 22, 2006 in New York. Claims were required to be submitted by December 31, 2006. Class members who wished to be excluded from the settlement were required to have filed before May 1, 2006. Those who remained in the settlement could attend the fairness hearing at their own expense and speak on their own behalf or be represented by an attorney. Other actions In Italy, (an association similar to EFF) also reported the rootkit to the Financial Police, asking for an investigation under various computer crime allegations, along with a technical analysis of the rootkit. The U.S. Department of Justice made no comment on whether