Western Digital Blocks Media File Sharing From Storage Device

[Pugsley]

So now the gun manufacturers are going to get charged with murder every time sombody uses a gun to kill someone?

So now the HD manufacturers are going to get sued when sombody shares a video using a HD?

WTF indeed.

[Executioner]

Because the RIAA and the MPAA want a yearly fee:
http://www.pcabusers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=44968

[FlyingPenguin]

So now the HD manufacturers are going to get sued when sombody shares a video using a HD?

PLEASE everyone read the entire thread carefully - many of you are missing the point.

The issue is NOT sharing media from the hard drive. The technology media sites have totally blown this out of proportion and mis-reported it and most of you are falling for it.

It's just a regular external hard drive. NOTHING MORE. The hard drive itself IN NO WAY prevents you from sharing any media.

The issue is ONLY when using an app that WD includes for free with that drive that acts as a Internet media sharing client that allows you to access your media remotely from another location (inside or outside your LAN). So, for instance, your videos are all at home on the external drive but you could watch your videos from a hotel on your laptop. There's lots of other ways to do this without the WD app.

The problem is that you could, also, allow friends and family to have access to your media and there's the legal rub. That's makes it a P2P app under the law and that would put the publisher (Western Digital) in a legal morass they don't want to be in. They most certainly could be sued (as other P2P app publishers have been) for allowing copy protected media to be distributed via P2P.

So if you just use it as a regular external hard drive, there's no problem. Simple as that. End of story. Let's move on to something more important.

[Pugsley]

PLEASE everyone read the entire thread carefully - many of you are missing the point.

The issue is NOT sharing media from the hard drive. The technology media sites have totally blown this out of proportion and mis-reported it and most of you are falling for it.

It's just a regular external hard drive. NOTHING MORE. The hard drive itself IN NO WAY prevents you from sharing any media.

The issue is ONLY when using an app that WD includes for free with that drive that acts as a Internet media sharing client that allows you to access your media remotely from another location (inside or outside your LAN). So, for instance, your videos are all at home on the external drive but you could watch your videos from a hotel on your laptop. There's lots of other ways to do this without the WD app.

The problem is that you could, also, allow friends and family to have access to your media and there's the legal rub. That's makes it a P2P app under the law and that would put the publisher (Western Digital) in a legal morass they don't want to be in. They most certainly could be sued (as other P2P app publishers have been) for allowing copy protected media to be distributed via P2P.

So if you just use it as a regular external hard drive, there's no problem. Simple as that. End of story. Let's move on to something more important.

I know that. I didn't fall for it. I never use included software unless I have to.