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14 Mar 2008
The BBC has released a fix to prevent PC users downloading programmes from iPlayer intended for use on an iPhone or iPod only.
Digital rights management issues mean that the BBC is able to offer streamed programmes to PC users for up to a week after broadcast.
The DRM for the downloaded service, meanwhile, ensures that programmes expire after 30 days.
However, following the launch of iPlayer for iPhones hackers soon discovered a Firefox plug-in allowing them to save the programmes to computer hard disks and distribute them freely with others.
Issuing the fix, the BBC acknowledged that it had won the battle rather than the war against hackers and would continue to remain vigilant.
"It's an ongoing process and one which we will continue to monitor. Like other broadcasters, the security of rights-protected content online is an issue we take very seriously," the BBC said in a statement.
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Do you agree?
Couldn't agree more ...
I couldn't agree more with the previous poster - the BBC are restricting me from keeping content that I have already paid them for with my licence fee. Their stance seem hypocritical - on the one hand I can record content with a PVR, DVD Recorder or even video recorder and keep it for as long as I like, but if I choose to watch it online I am being restricted from keeping it? That makes no sense and their stance makes no sense. It's either okay for me to 'record' it for personal use and keep it or it's not.
Posted by: A licence fee payer 17 Mar 2008
Disagree
The spin put on this story by the BBC has portayed the story in a back to front manner. The people who found the work around managed to fix the system, by allowing people to watch programs they had paid for with their licence fee at a time convenient to them, just as they could if they'd video recorded them. All the BBC have done is return the system to a defective state.
Posted by: Paul Lockett 14 Mar 2008