CatPuke used our newssubmit to tell us that a recent software update for Microsoft's Windows Media Player requires users to permit the automatic installation of undisclosed future anti-piracy measures.
The update should fix some nasty security bugs, but seems also to have installed software that could be used for future anti-piracy updates. In the License Agreement of the software Microsoft is pretty vague about what this is, according to researches it could give them full control over your computer in the worst case scenario:
 But some commentators fear this would give Microsoft free reign over a computer. Adrian Midgley, director the UK's Campaign for Digital Rights, says the updates could be used to prevent copying or to delete files altogether. He also says it could provide a potential security weak spot. |
Midgley told New Scientist: "What's nasty is that you are forced to hand over control of your computer without even having the ability to discover what changes are going to be made and approve or reject them."
The Microsoft agreement says only that "we will use reasonable efforts to post notices on a web site explaining the update".
The most common way to protect audio files from unauthorised copying is through digital watermarking. An identifying "watermark" embedded in a copy-protected file will tell an audio or video program to refuse to copy it.
I always wonder, is Microsoft really that bad ? THey already make major profits, do they really care about Digital Rights that much, or is there are certain industry that is putting pressure on them ? And if they would do something really bad, would they get away with it ?
Source: Newscientist.com
