The BBC says it has now plugged a loophole that let enterprising viewers download shows from its iPlayer without any copy protection. Unveiled last week, the web-based iPhone edition of the TV catch-up service downloads shows in the handset’s preferred, QuickTime-friendly H.264 video format, minus the Windows DRM layer. But some users easily spoofed the site by getting their desktop web browser to pretend it was the iPhone’s Safari app.
It’s largely a theoretical risk because the numbers with even this elementary knowledge remain small – but it let people transfer BBC shows to iTunes and is a risk that nevertheless would have contravened the rights window agreed with independent producers (the last week’s TV, available to watch for 30 days).
A statement sent from the BBC this morning reads: “We