A small battle is brewing online as proponents of open source software gear up to fight the CBC’s decision to switch its streaming format to Windows Media Player. For the past week, participants in the discussion forum at www.digital-copyright.ca have expressed their frustration at the decision by CBC to abandon the Real Player format for streaming live audio in favour of the Microsoft Corp. product, while expressing hopes that the broadcaster might use an open standard player rather than support a proprietary format. They express fears that the CBC will use the digital rights management capabilities in Microsoft’s player, and highlight the security holes that they say exists in the product. There is precedent for using federal money, they say, to develop an open standard player as the BBC is currently examining.

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