On that hard drive that won't share video

Saul Hansell at the NY Times Bits blog: On that hard drive that won't share video.

BoingBoing today posted about a networked hard drive from Western Digital that blocks access to music and video files. The blogosphere started a chorus of outrage. And I referred to it in a post about the dark side of Macrovision’s acquisition of Gemstar TV Guide.

I also called Western Digital, and when they called back it turns out that the situation is—as it often is—somewhat more complex than it first seemed.

The file blocking is not in the hard drive itself but in an Internet file sharing service called Mio that is included with the drive. This service, Mionet, which was acquired by Western Digital earlier this year, has two aspects: It lets you connect to your own files from anywhere on the Internet. And it also lets you specify certain folders that you can share with your friends.

Even before WD bought Mionet, the service blocked people from sharing music and video files with friends. But it did—and still does—allow users to link to any of their own files. ...