Western Digital Decides That You Shouldn't Be Allowed To Share Any MP3
from the why-is-that-WD's-decision? dept
Rich Kulawiec writes in to let us know about a Boing Boing post about some fairly ridiculous limitations on Western Digital's networked drives. Apparently, once you've set up the drive, you can subscribe to a service that will allow others to access your drive from the internet (rather than on the local network). You can set up accounts for specific people, including highlighting what is available to be shared with that person. However, Western Digital has simply decided that under no circumstance can you share a variety of multimedia filetypes, such as mp3s, wmvs, aac or others. Its reasoning is that this is "due to unverifiable media license authentication," which is basically a gibberish way of saying that you might be infringing on someone's copyright. Of course, you might not be either. There are an awful lot of media files out there that are perfectly legitimate to share with others. Certainly, this sort of action makes this service useless to a musician who records tracks and makes them available to his record label using such a drive. The key question, though, is why Western Digital should bother at all. There's certainly no legal reason for Western Digital to do such a thing -- and all it does is make their drives a lot less useful for perfectly legitimate activities.Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
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Filed Under: copyright, harddrives, hollywood, mp3s, sharing
Companies: western digital
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filename?
or
myfile_mp3.txt
i see why they have done this, and i see why they have done it in such a half hearted way as well
i suppose it is all to deflect charges related to 'facilitating copyright infringment' whatever that means
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If only the world was sensible...
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What 2 said
Imagine WD, having to answer for 700 TB of shared media files to the RIAA and MPAA. I wouldn't want to be WD in that case.
They would either have to block the service and answer to their clients (refunds/recalls/suits), or wage a legal war against the media giants, or even both - shutting down the service AND paying up.
They did the right thing here.
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Right? Wrong.
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wd
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Having said that, it's still a really stupid policy nonetheless.
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Re: wd drives suck compared to seagate
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Re: Re: wd drives suck compared to seagate
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Re:
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Also sticking them in a .zip would do the same thing wouldn't it?
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Re:
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Screwing the little guy
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Re:
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Absolutely useless for podcasters
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So What
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What about all the other "Content"?
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Re: What about all the other "Content"?
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Re: What about all the other "Content"?
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Completely Arbitrary List
Their blocking of JUST audio and video file types is also arbitrary itself, considering how many books are scanned and distributed in .PDF format by pirates.
Now, I am NOT encouraging WD to add these to the list, but rather that their completely arbitrary list of file types needs some serious consideration about what they are trying to achieve and what kind of legitimate file distribution they are restricting by blocking these file types. As Rich said, it shouldn't be up to WD as to what files I distribute or not. If I want to share copyrighted material, then it should be me who faces the consequences.
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nonsense
Maybe Western Digital should prevent the sharing of .doc and .txt files because they might be terrorist plans.
Apparently, they only thing they DO want us to share is our money with them, and our personal data, of course, so they can advertise to us.
We have become the consumables.
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Why on earth do companies think they can get away with this crap in 2007 (the information age)?
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What about other Copyrights Infringements?
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At first I thought to call shenanigans...
Think about it, all the news outlets are awash with news of MAFIAA actions against bittorrent sites, which in their minds can serve as facilitators or copyright infringement. So to avoid being put on the hitlist WD opted to just say no to media file sharing, but still making it relatively easy (renaming the file extension) to bypass for those not knowledgeable enough to set up their own remote access.
So anyway, I understand their position (if I read it correctly). The only thing to be mad about is the climate in which they have to put in restrictions on the type of file sharing out of fear of MAFIAA lawyers.
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I'm puzzled
This is just stupid.
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The public should not be able to share!!!
It is also well know the producers of this music steal samples from legitimate artist, pirate the software used to compose and master tracks, there is also cases people taking full tracks then singing or "rap" over top it. Most of the music produced this way is a form called techno or trance.
This style of music is for the soul purpose of encouraging young children to use a highly addictive drug called methamphetamine, often sold under the street name ecstasy. A liquid form of the drug, "Liquid ecstasy" or GHB also used by these children for date-rape. People listening to trance are highly dangerous to the point that their gatherings or "raves" require paramilitary to break them up as in Utah August 2005. At this event the security staff where found to be in the possession of drugs and weapons.
Sure it is only music today but it's child pornography tomorrow! You people will not stop till bankrupt this nation, both morally and economically. You might think it is your right to force your communist unAmerican ideals on the rest of us. But your lies and rhetoric kills children.
/sarcasm
Thank Big the G it's Friday.
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Re: The public should not be able to share!!!
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Re: The public should not be able to share!!!
If we kept computers and websites separated then we wouldn't have all these problems.
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hardware
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Well, maybe I'll try another brand next month when I need to get two new large capacity ones.
I'm curious too:
However, Western Digital has simply decided that under no circumstance can you share a variety of multimedia filetypes, such as mp3s, wmvs, aac or others.
Would this include company conference calls and the like saved in those formats? After all, there's really no verifiable media license authentication on the sound files saved after conferences and such. hmmm - Certainly wouldn't want those out on a Network Share!!
Guess WD drives shouldn't be used in business either for those reasons - I'll be sure to let management know :) - Particularly before our core data center storage is upgraded. Too bad for companies like WD that some of us IT geeks who hate this stuff make major purchasing decisions, huh? And it's easy to show why we shouldn't buy from them, with 'legalities' like that. Just mention 'legal' issues to upper management and watch them run like roaches from any vendor who could be an issue.
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Also sticking them in a .zip would do the same thing wouldn't it?
Yeah, but if you're dealing with some sales guy or accounting guy who careless about file types - then it's usefulness goes right out the door.
You going to tell your Bosses' boss that you can't post his conference video because the software from Western digital prevents it? I'd think it would be considered a 'bad choice' to use that software at that point in time.
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Wait a minute...
If that's the case, then there really is no reason to share those types of file. The last place I worked we blocked MP3's and AVI's from being downloaded or uploaded onto the server (and since no one had a dedicated computer it worked well).
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Damn
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Five Questions
2) Couldn't you just flash the firmware in the newer WD NAS's to use firmware from an older WD NAS?
3) If there are any older WD NAS's that don't block MP3's, then aren't they already open to be sued and therefore they're not really protecting themselves from any lawsuit anyway?
4) If some random person (like, for example, me) has 2 desktops each with an 80GB HDD and 3 laptops with a 40GB, 60GB, and 80GB drive (I acyually have one I really use and it has 500GB, but that's beside the point) and I wanted to store all my music on a single NAS and then access that music as I play it from elsewhere, assuming the music on the NAS is legally obtained, then what law did I break? This is no different than me placeshifting music via a slingbox or TiVo, and there is sufficient legal precedent saying that both of those are legal. Just the same, what if I have 10 licenses for Microsoft Office 2007 (I actually do have 3 legit ones, sadly) and I put an ISO on my NAS for MS Office and only install it 4 or 5 times. In that case, I have a legit CD Key and a legit license and a legit CD I put a single ISO from on my NAS. Would WD like to say no, I can't do that, and force me to make an (in this case, illegal) copy of the CD to take with me so I can install it and use my legit licenses anywhere?
5) Did WD lose what little common sense they had left when they were designing the original 500GB desktop drives or was it way back at the 250GB ones?
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MP3 Files that are in the public domain?
Question, by any chance does WDC actually disclose this limitation?
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Re: MP3 Files that are in the public domain?
They do allow storage of those files, but you can't just share them with other users.
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In other words...
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I bought it and regret it
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This Should Be A Precedent
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Craptastic
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goodbye WD
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"Apparently, once you've set up the drive, you can subscribe to a service that will allow others to access your drive from the internet (rather than on the local network)"
hence if you dont use their service you dont hit these restrictions. Its not going to stop you from moving mp3 files across a lan, uploading them to a server someplace, or any other way of sharing. Its just their service that prevents this. In short, don't use their service.
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Re:
I think almost everyone realizes that. What seems to have gone over your head is that it's the principle that people are objecting to.
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re: nonsense
It's worse than that, Holy Father. Corporate interests are actually setting the rules for how the world works. WD's response is, ironically, the fear-based, liability-aware response of one corporation to another's predictable behavior.
WD's lawyers have apparently decided that the corporation is liable for prosecution; a little extra ink is far less expensive than preparing defenses for perceived threats.
"...lawyers, guns, and money." ~W. Zevon
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Well, let's say - just for the sake of debate..
What if a company wants to share their last investor's meeting to the web in MPG or AVI format? That's not really rare - actually, I think it may even be required by the SEC. So in theory, they could get sued for that.
Guess that won't happen, eh?
Western Digital shouldn't be trying to 'guess' what a data file might contain.
What if I make my own videos - for whatever purpose... and want to share them? Am I'm screwed too?
Luckily - there are other ways to share information on the internet. This isn't helping anything, it's just retarded. All of the 'pirates' know dang well how to change file extensions, package in ISO/RAR/LZH/ZIP/TAR/ARC - compressed files, etc.
It's just the 'regular user' who will be impacted.
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Not true.
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Re: Not true.
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Hey, no prob, I've been guilty of the same myself. :)
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Hmmm
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Sweet!
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WD services?
OK, I know I'm coming late to the party, but there is a "solution" posted here which takes on this issue. It is not for the faint-of-heart however.
I don't fall on either side of this. I tend to think that these kinds of gimmicky NAS systems are overpriced. Until the price comes down, and it's easy to set up in Linux, I'll stay away. At this point, I'll just build my own NAS, with the components that I want. Maybe give the old WD a run for its money.
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what if I.....
eh, I know, I'm too lazy to set it up and find out for myself.
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You miss the point. WD has no business telling my business what content it can share with others. If I put up training podcasts which I want others to be able to access on the network, what right does WD have to block it? In fact they are interfering with my business.
Also, if my business inappropriately fails to obtain proper copyrights, that should be my liability, not the service providers.
This entire area of copyright control is running amok.
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So there is not a conspiracy theory about them serving the dark lords, RIAA and MPAA
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Burned once again!
It has been like 8 years since I purchased and depended on WD hard drives, so much for giving them another chance.
About 8 years ago I think, I had 7 WD Caviar drives fail completely or have multiple bad sectors occur on them within one years time.
Last year I ran across their 160gb drives at Best B*y and decided to buy a couple for upgrading my Tivo's, I swore after the first bad experience I would never buy another WD drive but thought I'd give them another chance.
I once again have been screwed by WD.
Judge for yourself but based on my experience I will never buy another WD drive as long as I live and am also persuading the company I work for " annual revenues average 1.15 Billion " to not use their products.
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Are you serious?
I won't
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