Yesterdays rant on Facebook patenting Friends’ Updates (probably out of spite) prompted me to finally voice my concerns over Realplayers new “Steal this Vid/Music” feature.
I am very surprised they have been allowed to do it – and am boggled by the fact that I can hear no noise about it at all.
For those of you who do not know (and I’m actually reluctant to even mention it in a public forum, but there you go), the new Realplayer comes with an (automatically on) option whenever you hover over a video or music file, to steal … sorry, download it.
As my site (and most others) contains copyrighted material, what right do Realplayer have to release a piece of software that enables theft?
And what (without huge cash reserves) can I do about it? My first thought was that this must be illegal, surely. What good are my promises to my site members when I say we do not allow people to download their material?
I’d be very interested in other Tech Republic Members’ thoughts on this.
