PC Snooping: Well kids, what do we all think about THIS!!! (1 Viewer)

[Scooter]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...oft_privacy_14
Dunno about you..but this really annoys me!

 

[Philip Hamm]

Then quit using Microsoft software and use the competition.

OOPS!! There is none because of Microsoft's years of anti-competitive poractices! Better slap them on the wrist.

 

[Joseph S]

Don't forget they also very likely have access to your GUID, Passport Info, Activation Code, etc. and a backhole into the OS. Tracing you to the data is a piece of cake.
Notice how they stated it will not be sold for marketing purposes at the current time, leaving open future use of the same data. Also, they don't tell you the name of the file where the log is kept and/or how to get rid of it. Obviously they want to keep this info available to them.
Yeah, someone will find the log, but MS isn't about to help J6P from become a marketing item. Just what we need J6P and his P&S being the only marketing data for DVD use.
Edit: I haven't found anything assoc with OS X edition WMP. Then again, WMP for Mac doesn't actually play any sort of media except for .wmp and a select few .avi and does so very poorly. So I don't know what they've actually had to log. However, Word managed stash an email address(not mine) from my last document in the office settings file visible only with BBEdit or text editor and not an actual setting or address entry.

 

[Rob Gillespie]

Media Player 7 and onwards have been bloatware to the nth degree. I've tried 7.1 on my W2K machine and removed it the same day. Horrible interface, slow, and almost as many attempts to 'phone home' as that other POS Real Player. I still use WMP 6.4. A tight, compact little program that does the job.

 

[Glenn Overholt]

Another sign that we've passed '1984'!
I think this is quick funny. As it stands now, making any attempt to get rid of this media player from your system is next to impossible - - so my question is.
If I download the new agreement (which they MUST have out), and say that I don't agree to accept their new terms, will it remove it from my system? And if it doesn't, can I sue?
Glenn

 

[WoodyH]

Okay, I'm hardly a M$ apologiser, supporter, or defender - but - at least half of this article is overblown hyperbole.
The only part of this article that is actually new or possibly newsworthy is these two sentences:

As part of downloading the information about songs and movies from the Web site, the program also transmits an identifier number unique to each user on the computer. That creates the possibility that user habits could be tracked and sold for marketing purposes.

The ability to store a database on the computer that 'tracks' (ahem ) what discs have been in the 'puter and listened to has been around and in use for years (at least on the Mac platform, I'm assuming on PCs also). At first, for each CD you put in, if you wanted the track and title info, you'd go into your CD player app and type it all in. With the boom of the 'net, the ability to connect to an online database (first the CDDB, others have appeared over the years) and automatically load the info based on the disc information was added to the CD player apps.
The only new info here is that M$ has seen fit to add a unique ID that could (in theory) be used to connect individual playlists and listening/watching habits to individual users. Why? Who knows. They're not saying, and yes, that is troubling, and most likely should be investigated and questioned - and (IMHO) removed unless there is a verifiable and realistic reason for it being there, and an 'opt-out' option added to the software.
I don't want my computer sending out information that I have no knowlege of. There is a real story in this story. It's just that it was buried in such an amazing amount of garbage that it got under my skin.

 

[Kimmo Jaskari]

Instead of using WMP 6.4, why not get Zoomplayer? It works brilliantly using the same codecs and has many more features than WMP 6.4. WMP 7.1 is admittedly seriously bloated, but hey, this is Microsoft we're talking about.

Anyway, any CD player software that goes to CDDB or FreeDB to get disc information adds that to some form of database on your computer, obviously. If not, it would have to go get the same data again next time, which would be highly inefficient.

The problem isn't so much logs on the local computer, it's the fact that MS have been logging on their servers a discrete number for the user and what movies he or she wants info on. However, they do claim there is no easy way to connect the user to the id number, so...

 

[AjayM]

Personally I'm not in favor of this type of thing, but seriously this is just a tad bit overblown and typical sensationalistic reporting. First, people have been tracking internet usage for a long time, Ad-click got busted for this awhile ago. Second, while they have the ability to track all of this information, it's a royal pain to actually store it someplace. Imagine how many people are using Media Player now imagine trying to store all of that information into a database, we're talking some serious hardware and storage needs for this. Now maybe they take samples or something like that, not much better but it works.

Oh and it's possible to track the IP address of the user to the ID number, which still isn't quite at the level of Joe Smith watched 5 porn video clips and listened to 50 pirated MP3's, but the IP address is still a pretty useful number to have (and with a little creative searching you can figure out a general idea where in the country it's coming from). Or if you are on MSN or one of the cable companies that is friendly with Microsoft you may be able to associate the IP with a user.

And like Phillip mentioned, if you don't like it, you can use a competing product like Linux or Mac (well with Mac you need new hardware also). Or just use another media player solution.

Andrew

 

[Rob Speicher]

I'm sure it's the principle of the thing for most people, but I couldn't care less if Microsoft - or anyone, for that matter - knew what music I listened to or what videos I watched. What's the big deal?