Microsoft is ratcheting up the movement to take your rights away when it comes to legally purchased content. Charlie Demerjian of The Inquirer writes, "WiMP11 will no longer allow you the privilege of backing up your licenses, they are tied to a single device, and if you lose it, you are really SOL. [...] This is nothing less than a civil rights coup, and most people are dumb enough to let it happen."

Unfortunately, Charlie is mostly correct about the masses. The collective power of the consumer to ignore the subtle ways in which rights are slowly taken away from them is undeniably strong.

What's worse than not allowing you to back up legally purchased content is the way in which WMP 11 treats the CD ripping public, which is to say, much like common thieves. From the Microsoft license agreement, "If the file is a song you ripped from a CD with the Copy protect music option turned on, you might be able to restore your usage rights by playing the file. You will be prompted to connect to a Microsoft Web page that explains how to restore your rights a limited number of times."

Now, granted, the CD ripping copy protection is a "feature" that can be switched off, but for how long?

[The Inquirer via Boing Boing]