Western Digital clamps down on NAS file sharing

 

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By Matthew Sparkes

Posted on 11 Dec 2007 at 09:49

Western Digital has banned online sharing of certain media file types from one of its NAS drives, in an effort to limit illegal file-sharing.

The My Book World Edition allows users to access files on a home network, but also from anywhere with an internet connection, using software called Anywhere Access.

But the software places strict limits on the types of file that can be transferred over the internet. "Due to unverifiable media license authentication, the following file types cannot be shared by different users using WD Anywhere Access," says the Western Digital website, before listing over 30 different file extensions that cannot be shared, including AAC, AVI and MP3.

"If these file types are on a share on the WD My Book World Edition system and another user accesses the share, these file will not be displayed for sharing. Any other file types can be shared using WD Anywhere Access," the site says.

Users who do not need to share files outside of their home network can opt not to install the Access Anywhere software, as the drive will allow media files to be shared locally without it.

"I admit the situation is far from ideal at the moment. We are working on a solution right now," says a Western Digital spokesperson, who explains that the solution is likely to be a fingerprinting technology that can differentiate between personal and copyright files.

Click here for our review of the Western Digital My Book World Edition.