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Privacy Issue Hits Windows Media | |
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| Time: 20:07 EST/01:07 GMT | News Source: MSNBC | Posted By: Julien Jay | ||
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Privacy expert Richard Smith Tuesday warned that Microsoft Corp. has implemented a feature in its Windows Media Player that could be used to track Internet users while they surf. Smith termed the feature a “SuperCookie,” but added that it currently doesn’t pose much risk to Internet users. Microsoft admits the feature could be used for malicious tracking, but several months ago updated Media Player to allow users to turn off the feature. Still, the existence of the ID number is a concern for privacy advocates — particularly because it’s turned on by default. The Windows Media Player ID number is actually worse than a cookie, Smith says, because only one is issued per computer. But since the Media Player ID is unique, it theoretically could be used by Web sites to track movements across the Net — several sites could get together and correlate their data for example, or a major Web advertising firm could do it for them.
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| #1 By 20 (24.243.32.227) at 1/17/2002 12:02:44 AM |
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I turned that off as soon as I got WMP a long time ago.
Anything that says "allow ... uniquely idenfity" gets unchecked immediately. |
| #2 By 4209 (163.192.21.3) at 1/17/2002 11:56:24 AM |
| I do recall other vendors doing this as well. Was it not real player or one of those other media playing apps? So MS does this so that people know what player you are using and it has adverse affects. It is not the first time, nor will it be the last time a software company puts a feature in there software so they can see what people use there software for. It is just like a car company sending you are survey, or the bank tracking your spending habbits on your Visa card. It hardly bothers me that someInternet comapny knows I listen to BNL or Billy Joel. They don't know my name they get the info from the serial number generated my WMP. It is not like they know my address and phone number. So who really cares, they do not know me from you, except what I listen to and what you listen to. They will never find me and start mailing things to me. If they do I throw it away just like the rest of my junk mail, either by snail mail or e-mail. It is not the end of the world |
| #3 By 135 (208.50.201.48) at 1/17/2002 10:47:32 PM |
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Someone on NTBugtraq explained that it's done for DRM. In order for a web download to be configured in a way that it'll run on your computer, the server needs the GUID of your media player.
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