What is the use if individuization?

[polonus]

Hi web forum foilks,

Why people are urged to go here:
http://services.wmdrm.windowsmedia.com/indivSite/en/indivit.asp

Can anyone expplain?

polonus

[drhayden1]

 This page lets you upgrade the security components of your digital media player so you can play protected files on your computer.

To upgrade your security components, click Upgrade.

hey polonus .....that upgrade that it asks you to click on is not fuctional anyways......i tryed it on my work laptop not this one and it didn't do a thing

could it be a bogus site??

[mauserme]

Maybe its this

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/player/faq/drm.mspx

[FreewheelinFrank]

I know it's something to do with DRM. If you want to download DRM WMA files and play them, you have to use this link to allow this to happen.

You'd do this if you wanted to buy DRM protected tracks from an online music store.

I have no idea exactly how it works!

[DavidR]

I smell a rat, probably not to dissimilar to the WGA served up as a critical windows autoupdate feature. This is probably some form of Digital Rights Management update, the sub-domain wmdrm speaks volumes where the web page uses double speak (talk).

Security component upgrade
This page lets you upgrade the security components of your digital media player so you can play protected files on your computer.

To upgrade your security components, click Upgrade.

I think far from allowing you to play protected files (MS are hardly going to condone playing files you shouldn't), it is going to make it harder for you to play protected media files.

Why wouldn't this be in the windows update for WMP if it were in any way related to security and why wouldn't it there be any information about what the security issues is. Possibly in the same way the Windows Genuine Advantage provides no Advantage to the user only Microsoft it holds little benefit for the end user. I'm sorry I have lost a lot of trust in MS and no longer take what they say or offer at face value.

The FF NoScript extension is showing it blocking scripts from windowsmedia.com so the site location appears to be genuine.
The whois confirms it is a MS site.

Querying whois.opensrs.net:43 for windowsmedia.com...
Registrant:
 Microsoft Corporation
 One Microsoft Way
 Redmond, WA 98052
 US

 Domain name: WINDOWSMEDIA.COM

[mauserme]

Its a way for the vendor to control your use of the music you buy online.

From the same site as above

[polonus]

Hi malware fighters,

I found this in connection to the following news. Microsoft has filed a lawsuit against a hacker that allegedly cracked MS DRM code. According to Microsoft the mysterious developer had access to closed MS source code.

For more than a month the giant from Redmond is battling an online program named "FairUse4WM", that deletes the locks on downloaded files. Microsoft until now released two patches to nullify the  tool. The first patch worked, but the hacker known as "Viodentia", has released an update that disintalls Microsoft's patch. According to the software gigant this is possible because the hacker had access to MS source code.

"Our intellectual property has been stolen from us and was used to develop this tool" according to a MS lawyer. While the hunt for the hacker goes on, websites are informed to delete the tooln. The tool would have Microsoft protected code inside.

Read: http://management.silicon.com/government/0,39024677,39162780,00.htm

polonus
      


   

[bob3160]

mauserme,
Your links simply reveal the imageshack page but not the image itself.

Edit
Didn't realize your post itself was an Image, sorry.

[polonus]

Hi web forum members,

Everybody who wants to see these matters in a real historical perspective, should read the following e-book (pdf file) at http://free-culture.org/get-it for the paid version by Lawrence Lessig. Why a student that improved a search engine lost all his savings to have his case dismissed, why coast to coast FM radio was nipped in the bud, what the content industry is trying to impose now etc. etc. Really good and entertaining read. To get it free: http://free-culture.org/freecontent/


polonus

[DavidR]

@ Bob3160
I can see the image Bob (see small part of it below), so unless it is/was a temporary glitch with imageshack ?

[Smith]

could it be a bogus site??

I thought it was a joke site, too.  However, to be fair to MS, this is gentler than what Sony BMG did.  Then again, I think quite many of average users of MS Media Players converted his/her CD music to DRM-"protected" WMA files without being informed of what it is actually doing.

This also reminds me of the message when I was prompted to apply Windows Genuine Advantage Validation.  When it was applied, I expected messages like "Sorry for your inconvenience," or "Thank you for your cooperation," followed by "Now you are recognized as a legitimate user, please proceed to apply the update."  However, the real message was something like "Congratulations, your machine is ready to update now", which I cannot remember correctly.

About copy-protection law, I found an interesting article at Wiki, hit by search words "Mickey Mouse Protection Act."  Don't they sound "cute", do they?

[polonus]

Hi Smith,

Interesting read, but I think at the end of the day  it is contra-productive. How many Chinese will buy the genuine work when they cannot afford the price for the original at the first place. That they get acquainted with  it anyway and this can be considered a benefit against a loss you do not have to count  in the first place, because they would not have bought it anyway. Well you have created the market for later times, so free distribution can be a good way of building clientele. And like the Sony example shows, you get less flies with vinegar.
In another view certain forms of free distribution could be favourable to the Industry, how could they stop private recording of for instance streaming radio?

polonus