
Disney+ Currently Won't Work on Linux Systems Due to Tightened DRM - fyskij
https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Disney-Plus-Not-On-Linux
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Porthos9K
Good. Linux (and Poetterix) has too much corporate crap on it as it is. Keep
Disney shit the hell away from Linux.

~~~
rolph
i get the idea that google wants to keep widevine away from open source.

This fellow developing a streaming app attempts to gain license for widevine
usage, and google says sorry we are not doing that right now.

[https://blog.samuelmaddock.com/widevine/gmail-
thread.html](https://blog.samuelmaddock.com/widevine/gmail-thread.html)

------
rolph
if this is supposed to encourage transcoding to alternate formats and
distribution through unsanctioned channels, its working, just as well as its
worked in the past.

[https://www.androidheadlines.com/2016/06/chrome-widevine-
exp...](https://www.androidheadlines.com/2016/06/chrome-widevine-exploit-
makes-streaming-piracy-easy.html)

[https://www.zdnet.com/article/security-researcher-cracks-
goo...](https://www.zdnet.com/article/security-researcher-cracks-googles-
widevine-drm-l3-only/)

"This Disney+ failure happens while the likes of Netflix, Amazon Video, and
Hulu work fine due to a difference in their Widevine handling. Linux browsers
(as well as some Android devices) only support Widevine Level 1 while Disney+
requires the highest level security features thereby blocking out the
support."

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Widevine](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Widevine)

from hans himself:

...So I subscribed for the testing period, problem all devices in my home run
Fedora. I started up Firefox and was greeted with an "Error Code 83", next I
tried Chrome, same thing.

So I mailed the Disney helpdesk about this they eventually got back to me in
about a week. They wrote: "We are familiar with Error 83. This often happens
if you want to play Disney + via the web browser or certain devices. Our IT
department working hard to solve this. In the meantime, I want to advise you
to watch Disney + via the app on a phone or tablet. If this error code still
occurs in a few days, you can check the help center ..." this was on September
23th.

Their so called help-center does not even know about "Error Code 83" even
though the internet is full of people experiencing this. Note that this error
also happens a lot on other platforms, it is not just Linux.

Someone on tweakers.net has done some digging and this is a Widevine error:

"the response is: {"errors":[{"code":"platform-verification-
failed","description":"Platform verification status incompatible with security
level"}]}".

Widevine has 3 security levels many devices, including desktop Linux and many
Android devices only support level 1.

In this case e.g. Netflix will not offer full HD or 4k resolutions, but
otherwise everything works fine, which is a balance between DRM and usability
which I can accept.

Disney+ OTOH seems to have the drm features kranked up to maximum draconian
settings and simply will not work on a lot of android devices, nor on
Chromebooks, nor on desktop Linux."

