Information for Consumers Contract All | Expand All What is media piracy? Media piracy is best described as the unauthorized reproduction and / or distribution of media. I don't steal. Why should I care? Media piracy costs all consumers.  The content owners know their content is vulnerable and often stolen and they are forced to recoup those costs by increasing the prices they charge to honest consumers. What types of threats exist? Literally thousands of free and low cost programs are tailor made by hackers and thieves to steal your content. New methods and techniques are published on the web every day, ensuring the failure of any static security solution. What is Streaming Media Defender™? Streaming Media Defender is the only proactive intelligent anti-piracy solution for streaming media content. How does Streaming Media Defender™ work? Streaming Media Defender™ is powered by LiveSquare and allows for the real-time monitoring of all your streaming content. SMD ensures that your content is protected at all times without consuming valuable bandwidth or server resources. SMD is implemented with customers as a one time Windows Media Player plug-in that passively monitors the streaming content. Does Streaming Media Defender™ 'spy' on me? Streaming Media Defender™ is distinguished from other anti-piracy schemes because it protects the consumer as well as the content owner.  SMD is a plug-in for the Windows Media Player, this means it is constrained in its action by what is allowed by the Windows Media Player.  This also means you can easily switch the plug-in on or off using the Windows Media Player plug-in management interface and you can be confident that SMD is not running when you don't want it to. Can I disable Streaming Media Defender? Streaming Media Defender™ can be switched on or off through the Windows Media Player plug-in management interface.  SMD only runs with Windows Media Player.