WMP 10 Acquire License Automatically

Can someone please enlighten me on this feature of WMP 10?

Everything I read put out by Microsoft tries to convince me that this is for my benefit. But I get a very uncomfortable feeling when I stream a video clip and up pops a window telling me that my browser settings have been reset. It looks like some website might be installing something in my computer. I do not feel good about this feature. For the time being I have disabled this feature. Are my fears justified or is this feature harmless?

Thanks.

Just my opinion,but in every version of WMP since 7.0,I have disabled/shutdown everything and anything that wants to send 'any' kind of info to the internet whether to M$ or whomever concerning DRM or anything else. The word 'privacy' has gotten to be almost a joke of late,but I intend to do whatever possible to keep information concerning myself,my music/video as private as possible.
The only feature I use in media player for my personal media is the 'playlist'. I drag n' drop songs to it from 'my' folders and never use the 'library' or 'media center' functions. If I get a popup when trying to play something online telling me IE can 'play this for me', I tell it 'NO' and let it play in the regular media player window.
Call it paranoia if you like,but unlike the 'other' ants,I don't play follow-the-leader...:rolleyes:

Ridgrunr I agree with everything you say and your practices pretty much parallel mine. But can you tell me anything about this "automatically acquire license" thing that is new in WMP10?

It was in WMP9 as well. You can just turn it off in the Tools>Options>Privacy tab by unchecking "Aquire licenses automatically for protected content".

In my original post I stated that I did disable this feature.

I am wondering what is it's function and what, if any, benefit is to be derived by leaving it enabled?

Here's a pretty good explanation of how it all works:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Archive/Ar...477138,00.html

Thanks SuperSparks, but that doesn't appear to address the "automatically acquire license" feature. When I have this feature enabled and stream certain video files I get a message that my browser settings have been reset. This is scary! Then when I exit WMP I am asked if I want to back up my license.

I don't trust this a single bit, but maybe my mistrust is misguided. Microsoft has some info out on this feature, but none of it makes much sense to me.