
HBO Max cranks up the Widevine DRM, leaves Linux users in the cold - Cantbekhan
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2020/08/hbo-max-cranks-up-the-widevine-drm-leaves-linux-users-in-the-cold/
======
randompwd
> Widevine is a proprietary digital rights management (DRM) technology
> provider used by Google Chrome and Firefox web browsers (and some of its
> derivates), Android MediaDRM, Android TV, and other consumer electronics
> devices. Widevine Technologies was purchased by Google in 2010

Yet again, Google as the root issue:

from [https://www.widevine.com/news](https://www.widevine.com/news) (April 01
'20)

> All Widevine browser-based integrations (platforms and applications) must
> support VMP. VMP support is NOT available for Linux platforms.

Previously did some work with DRM streaming video hitting (MS) Playready,
(Google) Widevine, (Apple) Fairplay. Google's Widevine was the out standing
issue for server side ARM support. Google's products are the software
equivalent of throwing half a bucket of paint at a large wall, not fully
covering it, then saying the wall is painted; followed by ignoring any issues.

~~~
Mindwipe
Huh? The vast, vast majority of Widevine streaming is done to ARM devices -
Qualcomm and Exynos chips for Android, which have a verified media path in
hardware.

~~~
rbecker
Is "verified" code for user hostile?

(I would say owner, but clearly purchasing a phone does not grant full
ownership.)

~~~
rowanG077
Yes

------
wmf
Ars is a few weeks late to the game here. Previous discussion:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24094386](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24094386)

~~~
37r7eyyeey
I don't really get the melodrama of most of the top comments in that the old
thread nor the current headline. Everyone is bemoaning how this is what drives
people to piracy... but does Chrome not work anymore? Is the bar for resorting
to piracy that low? It's hard to feel sympathetic when the starting position
is presented as "It's broken, we've been forsaken!" but then on inspection it
turns out to really be a case of "It doesn't work in a way that fits our
politics, we've been forsaken!" I get that there's a lot of idealism in play
but the histrionics just make the author and the community look dishonest.

~~~
wmf
Desktop Linux and the anti-DRM movement have always been that way and the
intersection of both is even worse.

------
Nextgrid
Piracy to the rescue I guess?

~~~
schoolornot
I haven't kept up with the scene but as long as set top boxes & sticks exist,
can't you just buy a $10 HDCP decoder on eBay and re-compress with minimal
loss?

~~~
wmf
I guess the Hollywood-industrial complex has to pretend that doesn't exist
because it would mean the emperor has had no clothes for decades.

------
ed25519FUUU
Linux desktop*. We often don't think of them as linux, but Apple tvOS is BSD
and virtually every other TV and smart box is Android (linux).

~~~
boring_twenties
BSD is unrelated to Linux.

~~~
ed25519FUUU
BSD is a unix-like operating system the same as Linux. They're unrelated in
the same way two brands of skateboards are unrelated.

------
kgraves
Usually the solution is to use Windows, Mac or one of their supported
devices[1]. I doubt Linux was ever on their radar.

For most people this is a non-issue and can be easily solved.

[1]
[https://help.hbomax.com/Answer/Detail/20](https://help.hbomax.com/Answer/Detail/20)

~~~
stonogo
Linux is explicitly on their radar. What do you think Android or Chromebooks
are?

~~~
Mindwipe
> Linux is explicitly on their radar. What do you think Android or Chromebooks
> are?

Android and Chromebooks don't intrinsically get you the content either. They
just tend to run on hardware that's supported or include closed source
components for big chunks of their graphics systems and management engines
including chains of trust that are signed as being the code the other sections
expect.

The average desktop Linux system has no interest in that, so it doesn't
happen.

