Despite the deep dislike for DRM among the masses (the masses not including the DMCA) , Western Digital feels that it, too, needs to impose copy-protection.

WD’s Anywhere Access software that comes with its networked drives disallows sharing for certain file formats that include MP3, MPEG, DIVX and OGG. It makes no distinction between original or copyrighted works, meaning that you couldn’t even share that cute voice message you made on your answering machine with your folks even.

This kind of discriminate file-sharing blocking isn’t going to help WD. Not at all. With home servers possibly getting more popular, WD’s going to lock itself out as a possible provider of storage for media-sharing. Or perhaps people will just come up with software that’s an alternative to Anywhere Access, bypassing the need for proprietary software to make WD’s networkable drives work.

Copy-protection is something that record companies should deal with, and WD trying to get itself into the anti-piracy business is more likely to alienate than win over consumers.

What WD’s done shows very little forethought and more an eager stunt to display an anti-piracy stance…when honestly, what would it get out of it? That would just lead consumers to stick with less copy protection-obsessed rivals. There’s Seagate, for one and a whole host of Taiwanese brands who would willingly sell you portable, networking-capable storage alternatives without WD’s Anywhere-But-Not-Anything Access software.

Related:

Entry was posted on Tuesday, December 11th, 2007 at 6:20 am under Opinion, Storage.

Read more entries by Erna Mahyuni.
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