Now it’s lawyer time.

By the end of November, class action suits were filed against the label in California, New York and Washington, D.C. Furthermore, the state of Texas is now the first state to sue Sony BMG under a state’s existing laws prohibiting spyware.

“Sony has engaged in a technological version of cloak and dagger deceit against consumers by hiding secret files on their computers,” Texas Attorney General Greg Abbot said when announcing the lawsuit.

“Consumers who purchased a Sony CD thought they were buying music. Instead, they received spyware that can damage a computer, subject it to viruses and expose the consumer to possible identity crime.”

The Electronic Frontier Foundation also filed suit against Sony BMG. However, along with targeting the rootkit fiasco, the non-profit consumer digital rights organization also named another DRM technology supplier for the label – Arizona-based SunnComm, makers of MediaMax copy protection technology. EFF claims MediaMax also installs on a computer without the owner’s knowledge.

“Sony BMG is to be commended for its acknowledgment of the serious security problems caused by its XCP software, but it needs to go further to regain the public’s trust,” EFF staff attorney Corynne McSherry said in a statement. “It is unconscionable for Sony BMG to refuse to respond to the privacy and other problems created by the over 20 million CDs containing the SunnComm software.”

So, in addition to giving the fledgling DRM industry one helluva black eye, an innocent bystander, SunnComm, has now been dragged into the mess.

In addition to the aforementioned lawsuits, there are reports that New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer is looking into the matter. Supposedly Spitzer had his people canvassing stores during the Thanksgiving holiday weekend to see if there were any recalled CDs still sitting on store shelves.

Of course, Spitzer and Sony BMG are old acquaintances. It was only last July when the label agreed to pay the State of New York $10 million to settle an investigation into radio payola as well as promise Spitzer that the label would never bribe radio station personnel again.

The line to sue Sony BMG is just starting to queue up, but expected to grow as individual states decide whether they, too, want a piece of the legal action. Of course, like any major event it’s always best to get in line early. Who knows? Maybe they’ll even hand out wrist bracelets.