BBC Publishes Attack on DRM

[Chris Gohlke]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7136527.stm' target='_blank'>http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7136527.stm</a><br /><br /></div><i>"The last few years in the history of digital content are littered with examples of Digital Rights Management (DRM) solutions that have been accused of being over complex and consumer unfriendly."</i><br /><br />Who doesn't like a good article attacking DRM. Unfortunately this article gets off to a bad start by being factually incorrect. Here is there first example they give:<br /><br /><i>"Western Digital sells a range of networked hard drives, which allows users to share files across both a local network of home computers and across the net. But the firm has now blocked remote access to 30 different types of media files, including MP3s and MP4s, to users running its Anywhere Access program. The company says it has done this as an anti-piracy effort, to prevent people from copying and sharing copyright files. But the block makes no distinction between files which are user generated, such as home movies, and paid-for, DRM-protected content. </i><br /><br />I just finished a review of the exact product and software they are referring to. Basically it is a network file server. You can use the included software or a web interface to access the drive remotely over the internet. The article says that you can't remotely access files like MP3's due to software imposed limitation. This is not the case, I did it during my review and just did it now to see if something had changed in the last few days. In reality, the software also allows you to share access to the drive to others, basically letting you set up a file server on the web. The prohibition that is in place prevents you from sharing certain types of media files with those other users, a big difference from saying that you can't remotely access it yourself.

[Jason Dunn]

The prohibition that is in place prevents you from sharing certain types of media files with those other users, a big difference from saying that you can't remotely access it yourself.

But I guess the question is, who is Western Digital to think that they can determine what kind of content I can and can't share? Let's say I'm a musician and I have my own recordings in MP3 format - why can't I share that with friends and family? I use h.264 (MPEG4) as the format for most of my vacation videos now - why can't I share that with friends and family?

Western Digital is playing a dangerous game here and I don't think they have any right to be telling people what file formats can and can't be shared. :?

[Chris Gohlke]

I agree with you that blocking this kind of content does seem like they are pandering to the special interest groups. Plus I don't like have a control like this in place because they could decide to change it tomorrow and make it more restrictive.

But, to their credit, the product packaging and their website only make mention of sharing graphic and document type files.

"Securely share photos with your friends anywhere in the world without uploading them to the web. Offer your clients an easy way to access business documents, designs, and artwork."

Also, when I spoke with them while writing the review, they brought up the topic when telling me about the features of the drive, in fact that is how I first heard about the limitation.

I'll agree it would be nice if they explicitly stated that you could not share certain types of files because I imagine that may users would assume that it would work. In fact, I searched the manual as well as their website for the terms MP3 and share and could not find anything relevant that would suggest that you could not share an MP3.

So, "A" for not lying and saying that it would support it but "F" for not explicitly stating it, so I give them a "C" for the issue.

[Crocuta]

They get an F in my book all the way around. Sentences like the one Chris quoted are used to give you an idea of how you might use the product. No one would take that to be an exhaustive list of files you can share. It tells you that you can share your files over the Internet and gives you examples of what kind of files you might want to share. It is lying pure and simple to say you can share your files when you cannot and it is offensive that they have decided that you cannot be trusted to act within the law and that it is their job to police you. How would you feel if you bought a new car and then found out they had put a speed governor on it so you can't exceed the speed limit? Would you say, they were honest because they never told you they didn't do that? Of course not! You'd be furious. You have no reason to ask the question in either case because it is outrageous for them to do it in the first place, so the lack of a clear warning of how the device is crippled is lying. It looks like I'll be avoiding WD from now on. Who knows, next they might write some code in their drive's firmware that prevents me from even storing media files. After all, they might be illegal. :evil: