Media Player 8 is watching you (and your films)

Expert have discovered an action of Windows Media Player 8.0, when multimedia files are processing. This programme make files LOG where it saves details for CDs and DVDs the user have played or seen. Then it sends detail to a Microsoft's server (windowsmedia.com) by a cookie and with the detail the unique ID of every user, which is creating the first time the programme is launched.
With this action Microsoft get two information:

• the film's title and
• the Media's Player (user's) ID

Also Media Player creates a small database on the HDD of the PC, where it has all the information of the DVDs and CDs. The site where i read this say that this action of Microsoft has made a good question: "Why does the user need the details of his/her DVDs and CDs since he/she has already from the CDs' box?"
The things are getting worse, as Richard M.Smith (representer of the site ComputerBytesMan) said when some1 sings up on the Newsletter of Windows Media. Because the cookie writes down the e-mail address of the user and sends it to the server of M$. This mean that it only needs to run a movie on the PC and the programme sends the e-mail to the servers, where then M$ will update the data of the user.
There is a way to protect yourself from this spy thing of M$. Go to and deactivate the use of the ID from the options of Media Player or deactivate all the on-line actions of the programme.

Well well what a suprise that M$ is spying on users. Thanks for the info, i use Media player alot.

Kindred69

realplayer does same thing!

windoze as well as the vast majority of m$ progs are all spyware - internet prizacy is a thing of the past - either deal with it or yank your modem outta the wall :(

v_Ln

It really buggz me when Companyes play "I spy with my little Spy-code; somthing that you don't wan't seen!"
The use of Spy progs and spy-code should be illigal....
Nice 2 know....tanx

Remember everything i've written is for Media Player 8.0, but maybe it'll be on old versions of Media Player too.

This is rather old news -- it was passed through bugtraq a couple of weeks ago.

I'd like to remind people that if you wanna really stay informed, securityfocus' mailing lists are the best way to go.

Quote:

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Originally posted here by chsh
This is rather old news -- it was passed through bugtraq a couple of weeks ago.

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Agreed - I posted on this back in February, check the thread out here:

http://www.antionline.com/showthread...hreadid=219740

Yet another reason to use Linux for all my multi media stuff.

*sighs* Microsoft never quits... why would they want this info? I mean they say it's to help for better programs. what a croc of ****. I am so tired of MS but have to use it for Photoshop and Dreamweaver :\ ... not actually dreamweaver but I like it.... I've played with GIMP and there's just too many features Photoshop has...