Microsoft Denies Any Zune "Copyright Cop"

A story in the New York Times had the blogosphere up in arms, but Microsoft indicates we shouldn't believe it. The Times said that Microsoft is working to implement an anti-piracy filter into its Zune media players, which would prevent playback of unauthorized videos.

In fact, J. B. Perrette, the president of digital distribution for NBC Universal, made just that statement.

However, a post on a semi-official Microsoft blog written by an employee working on Zune denied any such plans:

We have no plans or commitments to implement any new type of content filtering in the Zune devices as part of our content distribution deal with NBC.

We think some folks in the industry were expressing hopes for how the entire industry, not just Microsoft, would come to look at content distribution, and some speculation has ensued. Again, no plans are in place toward this end.


That doesn't mean they can't change their minds, does it?