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Windows Media Player teacup tempest

By Scott McCollum
SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM
February 25, 2002

Last Wednesday saw Microsoft changing their Windows Media PlayerÕs on-line privacy statement on after an Associated Press headline screamed ÒMicrosoft program tracks user habits.Ó The inflammatory AP report called the logging of DVD movie and audio CD titles a ÒtacticÓ and implied that all personal information from all 17 million owners of Microsoft Windows XP would be sold to telemarketers. Another story from German-owned tech media conglomerate CNet reported that an advisory posted by expert Òcomputer privacy and security consultantÓ Richard Smith warned that ÒMicrosoft can track what DVD movies are being watched on a particular computerÓ and a host of Big Brother-style scenarios. Both the AP and CNet stories say the same thing: Microsoft is potentially invading your privacy because somewhere on your computer thereÕs a log file of every DVD and music CD you listened to on that computer.

Huh? The reporters for big media companies like the Associated Press and CNet that have websites can legally utilize your web browsers ÒcookiesÓ (log files stored on your computer of every web page youÕve visited on the Internet) to send you customized email alerts on news stories to selling your aggregated statistics to telemarketers for their own profit. However, if you as a Windows XP user collect that same kind of information on with Windows Media Player on DVD movies you bought so as to have the convenience of recognizing which DVD you just put in your PC; itÕs an invasion of your own privacy?

Yes, thatÕs exactly what the AP and CNet stories are saying. The purpose of the Windows Media PlayerÕs DVD/CD log file is to create a database of the movies you watch and the music you listen to for the PC userÕs convenience, not MicrosoftÕs profit. Anyone using Windows Media Player on Windows XP knows that you can slip your favorite DVD or CD into the drive and have them recognized as ÒBraveheartÓ or ÒRush ø Moving PicturesÓ with appropriate DVD cover/album art displayed on your screen instantly without having to type it all in manually. A convenience is now an invasion of privacy? Get real, kids. I donÕt know about you, but that information is not my idea of ammo for the Internet snoops at the United Nations to fly in the black helicopters and steal my lawn furniture.

Much of this ÒMicro$oft is going to sell our email addresses from the Windows Media Player logsÓ privacy paranoia stems from is the fact that Windows Media Player is ahead of its time. Microsoft assumed that media companies like AOL-Time Warner would be offering movies and music for purchase on the Internet in the near future and laid down a framework to allow these companies to keep their copyrighted materials secure over the Internet. For example, Windows Media Player allows for Warner BrotherÕs music site to discern your computer from my computer by a Òunique identifierÓ number, so as to cut down on music piracy (and this also can apply to movies over the Internet). This unique identifier is not stored on a Microsoft server; it is saved on your computer and shared with Warner Brothers. However, Warner Brothers (and other media companies) are dragging their feet on implementing this technology. David Caulton, lead product manager for Microsoft's Windows Digital Media division, put it best: ÒWe don't have any information about who user number 345216436 is, so there's no way to send them e-mail.Ó

Remember the privacy expert Richard Smith? Smith acknowledged that the Windows Media PlayerÕs log information is almost impossible to locate. I searched my Windows XP machineÕs log files and registry keys for half an hour with no luck ø itÕs actually in a database file called Òwmplibrary_v_0_12.dbÓ that looks like machine code rather than a neat list of everything youÕve ever listened to or watched on your PC. If youÕd like to go in to this database and erase these entries, hereÕs how you can try:

-Go to the C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Microsoft\Media Index folder on your Windows XP hard drive. -Back up the wmplibrary_v_0_12.db file onto a CD-RW or Zip disk. The .db file will be a couple of megabytes or more depending on how much you use Media Player. -Open the wmplibrary_v_0_12.db file using the Windows Notepad (unless youÕre scared that the evil Micro$oft Corporation is viewing your Notepad usage stats, in which case you should open the file with some freeware Òa GUI and mouse are crutches for the bourgeoisÓ text editor that only mental patients and CompSci PhDs know how to use). -Cull through the thousands of lines of asterisks, smiley faces and other ASCII-symbols until you find the porno DVD titles you donÕt want your wife/Microsoft/the Government to know youÕve been watching with Windows Media Player. -Delete the text and all the squiggly ASCII-marks and symbols near them. -Reboot your system and see if Windows Media Player still works. If it doesnÕt, restore the wmplibrary_v_0_12.db from your CD-RW or Zip backup.

I could say that this makes a case for MicrosoftÕs point about operating system integration and that the states are wasting their time with the continuing litigation against Microsoft, but IÕll save it. The privacy experts like Richard Smith (by the way, Smith is a smart guy and all, but he is a self-proclaimed Òprivacy expert.Ó Surprisingly, everyone in the tech media now refers to him as ÒRichard Smith, privacy expert.Ó ItÕs kind of like the Rolling Stones saying: ÒThe Greatest Rock and Roll BandÓ so much that everyone started calling them that. From now on, IÕd want to be known in the press as ÒScott McCollum, iconoclastic cyber-aristarchÓ) still contend that divorce lawyers, telemarketers and hackers would get this information off your computer and destroy your right to privacy. The privacy expert just let us all know that criminals can pry off the locks on our back doors, slither into our homes and steal our valuables.

Yeah, thanks for the tip, RichÉ

Want me to send the UNÕs black helicopters to your backyard? Email me with your coordinates. <>

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