[Infowarrior] - Microsoft Media Player shreds your rights

[Richard Forno]

Microsoft Media Player shreds your rights

http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=34523

By Charlie Demerjian: Thursday 21 September 2006, 10:08

THINK DRM WAS bad already? Think I was joking when I said the plan was to
start with barely tolerable incursions on your rights, then turn the
thumbscrews? Welcome to Windows Media Player 11, and the rights get chipped
away a lot more. Get used to the feeling, if you buy DRM infected media, you
will only have this happen with increasing rapidity.

One of the problems with WiMP11 is licensing and backing it up. If you buy
media with DRM infections, you can't move the files from PC to PC, or at
least you can't and have them play on the new box. If you want the grand
privilege of moving that content, you need to get the approval of the
content mafia, sign your life away, and use the tools they give you. If you
want to do it in other ways, you are either a lawbreaker or following the
advice of J Allard. Wait, same thing.

So, in WiMP10, you just backed up your licenses, and stored them in a safe
place. Buying DRM infections gets you a bunch of bits and a promise not to
sue, but really nothing more. The content mafia will do anything in its
power, from buying government to rootkitting you in order to protect those
bits, and backing them up leaves a minor loophole while affording the user a
whole lot of protection.

Guess which one wins, minor loophole or major consumer rights? Yes, WiMP11
will no longer allow you the privilege of backing up your licenses, they are
tied to a single device, and if you lose it, you are really SOL. Remember
that feeling I mentioned earlier? This is nothing less than a civil rights
coup, and most people are dumb enough to let it happen.

Read the links, the entire page is scary as hell, but the licensing part
takes the cake. "Windows Media Player 11 does not permit you to back up your
media usage rights (previously known as licenses)", Wow, new terminology,
old idea, you are a wallet with legs waiting to be raped. "The store might
limit the number of times that you can restore your rights or limit the
number of computers on which can use the songs or videos that you obtain
from them. Some stores do not permit you to restore media usage rights at
all." Translation, not our problem, and get bent, we got your cash.

But it gets worse. If you rip your own CDs, WiMP11 will take your rights
away too. If the 'Copy protect music' option is turned on, well, I can't top
their 1984 wording. "If the file is a song you ripped from a CD with the
Copy protect music option turned on, you might be able to restore your usage
rights by playing the file. You will be prompted to connect to a Microsoft
Web page that explains how to restore your rights a limited number of
times." This says to me it will keep track of your ripping externally, and
remove your rights whether or not you ask it to. Can you think of a reason
you would need to connect to MS for permission to play the songs you ripped
from you own CDs? How long do you think it will be before a service pack,
masquerading as a 'critical security patch' takes away the optional part of
the 'copy protection'? Now do you understand why they have been testing the
waters on WiMP phoning home? Think their firewall will stop it even if you
ask?

Then when you go down on the page a bit, it goes on to show that it guts
Tivo capabilities. After three days, it kills your recordings for you, how
thoughtful of them. Going away for a week? Tough, your rights are
inconvenient to their profits, so they have to go. "Recorded TV shows that
are protected with media usage rights, such as some TV content recorded on
premium channels, will not play back after 3 days when Windows Media Player
11 Beta 2 for Windows XP is installed on Windows XP Media Center Edition
2005. No known workaround to resolve this issue exists at this time."
Workaround my *ss, this is wholesale rights removal by design.

What WiMP11 represents is one of the biggest thefts of your rights that I
can think of. MS planned this, pushed the various pieces slowly, and this is
the first big hammer to drop. Your rights, the promises they made, and
anything else that gets in the way of the content mafia making yet more
money gets thrown out. Why? Greed. Your rights? History. You were dumb
enough to let it happen, don't say I didn't warn you. µ