Reciprocal's technology will give online media providers better control of the distribution and use of their data, eg. a music file could be sent to a user accompanied by a special encryption layer which would only allow the user to listen to the music track once.
However, as Microsoft eventually intends to tie the software deeper into Windows in the long term, specialists in information privacy are worried that such measures will change the home PC into merely a "passive viewing device", with the user having reduced control over their system and its flexibility.