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> Netflix was a big pusher for EME, as far as I know not because they wanted it, but because the studios they license from demand DRM. This is what they would

by gergles 10y ago

> Netflix was a big pusher for EME, as far as I know not because they wanted it, but because the studios they license from demand DRM. This is what they would like for you to think, but as you said yourself, their own content also has DRM applied. If they were really being forced (!) to do this by the evil studios, their own stuff would not include DRM. Netflix clearly wants their facade of protection too, and the studios are a convenient bogeyman, like Ticketmaster in the live events industry.

wmf 10y ago
Or they just apply the exact same DRM to all content because that's simpler.
jedberg 10y ago
Netflix doesn't really "own" their originals. All the Marvel stuff is still owned by Disney, they just have exclusive rights to distribute. Also, from a technology perspective, it would actually be really hard to remove the DRM from just their own stuff. The delivery and encoding pipelines are all standardized around the DRM requirements. It would require a whole bunch of exceptions to remove the DRM just from certain content, on both the server and client side.
- slrz 10y ago
  No, it is not even remotely hard compared to the other technical feats their engineers have accomplished in the past. If they actually wanted it, it would get done.
  - jedberg 10y ago
    Having been one of those engineers myself, I can tell you for sure that it is a hard problem.
    - slrz 10y ago
      Hmm, interesting. My reasoning was along the lines of (for the absolut minimal solution): 1) you were able to introduce support for additional DRM systems/CDMs 2) thus, you should at least be able to introduce some kind of clear key system, like the Clearkey example CDM from EME. 3) write a blogpost on how subscribers may use this and that the video data is encrypted for technical reasons only and that you don't consider it a copy protection scheme under the DMCA and similar laws. Encourage user agent developers to handle it like no DRM at all. This would allow for watching Netflix using open source software. Now that you'd have an interim solution running, keep in mind the possibility of no DRM when making future infrastructure decisions.

by gergles 10y ago

wmf 10y ago

Or they just apply the exact same DRM to all content because that's simpler.

jedberg 10y ago

Netflix doesn't really "own" their originals. All the Marvel stuff is still owned by Disney, they just have exclusive rights to distribute. Also, from a technology perspective, it would actually be really hard to remove the DRM from just their own stuff. The delivery and encoding pipelines are all standardized around the DRM requirements. It would require a whole bunch of exceptions to remove the DRM just from certain content, on both the server and client side.

slrz 10y ago
No, it is not even remotely hard compared to the other technical feats their engineers have accomplished in the past. If they actually wanted it, it would get done.
- jedberg 10y ago
  Having been one of those engineers myself, I can tell you for sure that it is a hard problem.
  - slrz 10y ago
    Hmm, interesting. My reasoning was along the lines of (for the absolut minimal solution): 1) you were able to introduce support for additional DRM systems/CDMs 2) thus, you should at least be able to introduce some kind of clear key system, like the Clearkey example CDM from EME. 3) write a blogpost on how subscribers may use this and that the video data is encrypted for technical reasons only and that you don't consider it a copy protection scheme under the DMCA and similar laws. Encourage user agent developers to handle it like no DRM at all. This would allow for watching Netflix using open source software. Now that you'd have an interim solution running, keep in mind the possibility of no DRM when making future infrastructure decisions.