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The Register reported last week that the BBC added activated a SWF verification layer on its popular iPlayer slamming the door on open source implementations of real-time message protocol streaming plugins.
“The Beeb applied the update to its online video catch-up service on 18 February, just four days after Adobe Systems penned a corporate blog post about its ‘content protection offerings,'” Kelly Fiveash reported.
The update locks out users of open source plugins like those of the XBMC community. Many BBC users have been using the iPlayer XBMC plugin since it was release last May to watch TV and listen to BBC radio content, Fiveash reported.
One Register reader, Tom Rouse, who first alerted the newspaper of the change, said, “Ironically, third party utilities that download files (which presumably the verification is there to prevent) still work fine. It is possible that this move will actually increase the occurrence of downloading files which will not be time limited, or torrenting of copyrighted material.”
