Disney+ Currently Won't Work On Linux Systems Due To Tightened DRM

[RealNC]

qBittorrent works fine in Linux, so I don't see what the fuss is about.

[Vistaus]

Exactly. Currently this isn't worth anyone's time bypassing, but if it becomes pervasive enough, rest assured it will be broken in no time. Unfortunately, in the meanwhile, people will use that as an argument to point out that "Linux isn't ready for the desktop".

Disney+ doesn't work on Chromebooks either, and Chromebooks *are* popular, so...

[zexelon]

I have tried very hard to 100% give up on piracy... my media PC runs Windows 10, all i want is 1080p I have bought a lot of my content off iTunes and I pay for Netwflix... Now Netflix has started randomly dropping videos that my kid really liked to watch I cant play any of the iTunes purchases on anything other than an Apple or Windows device... its getting so complicated and painful to pay for content that piracy is again looking like the better option! And if you pirate it, it will work forever!

[starshipeleven]

qBittorrent works fine in Linux, so I don't see what the fuss is about.

That's more free, but it is also stealing.

[starshipeleven]

I have tried very hard to 100% give up on piracy... my media PC runs Windows 10, all i want is 1080p I have bought a lot of my content off iTunes and I pay for Netwflix... Now Netflix has started randomly dropping videos that my kid really liked to watch I cant play any of the iTunes purchases on anything other than an Apple or Windows device... its getting so complicated and painful to pay for content that piracy is again looking like the better option! And if you pirate it, it will work forever!

The issue is that you didn't give up on DRM-encumbered media so now that everyone decided to roll up their own bullshit streaming service you are screwed (at least for a while until they realize it's not as good an idea as it was for cable TV, but it will take a decade)

The only way to truly solve the issue is to support DRM-less media, like for example looking at media made by decent content creators on youtube (or other platforms), and supporting them through Patreon or other means. Yes Google as a media provider is still the "more free" of the bunch even if it's still kinda nazi-like on many things.

Piracy does not give DRM-encumbered media producers any money, true, but it still keeps that IP alive through trasversal sales (merchandise and stuff) and publicity.
Also it does not support DRM-free media, so it effectively enforces the status quo.

[RealNC]

That's more free, but it is also stealing.

Since Disney+ uses strong DRM to protect themselves against stealing, surely it's not stealing. That's the whole point of their DRM, isn't it? They're protected, so downloading all their stuff through p2p is fine

[Mystro256]

The issue is that widevine does not have much way to know if the stack is secure or not. You can trick it easily if you can provide the right blobs.

Like most DRM, it relies on the whole stack of the device being stable and not alterable by the user.

Which is why it falls flat on its face if someone hacks the application to think the device is "max security" (which are most of the "netflix app" hacks so far)

Also of course HDCP is another obvious weak link. It's very easy to set up a systemw ehre you can just send the stream to a HDMI capture card.

Hence why I assume changing a portion of the stack would break everything. I worked on some play ready stuff years ago (M$'s versions of widevine) and I believe HWDRM needed every component (including FW) to be signed and verified against a key at run-time. Injecting any component that it can't verify will cause hwdrm to bail.

I presume widevine needs this for hwdrm as well.

As well, I'm curious how hacking the application would allow it to work. With play ready at least, the server and hw do a key exchange, and the server will verify the key against a known CA before sending content. All data from that point on is encrypted with that key, including any key rotation. Widevine would be pretty flawed if it didn't do this as well.

I guess if you could somehow get a hold of the certified leaf key that the hw has to generate key pairs, you could spoof it.

[ssokolow]

The issue is that you didn't give up on DRM-encumbered media so now that everyone decided to roll up their own bullshit streaming service you are screwed (at least for a while until they realize it's not as good an idea as it was for cable TV, but it will take a decade)

The only way to truly solve the issue is to support DRM-less media, like for example looking at media made by decent content creators on youtube (or other platforms), and supporting them through Patreon or other means. Yes Google as a media provider is still the "more free" of the bunch even if it's still kinda nazi-like on many things.

Piracy does not give DRM-encumbered media producers any money, true, but it still keeps that IP alive through trasversal sales (merchandise and stuff) and publicity.
Also it does not support DRM-free media, so it effectively enforces the status quo.

Exactly.

There's a lot of stuff you can buy DRM-free if you shop around. (eg. GOG.com, DRM-free Humble Bundles, StoryBundle.com, eBaying stuff you missed as a kid and feeding it into a Retrode or comparable, print books, Baen eBooks, sites like OCRemix and ModArchive , etc.)

I've been boycotting the MPAA and RIAA since 2005 and blogged about it in 2011. (I only watch movies if a family member put in a DVD and my choice is "do I sit down or continue walking?")

...that said, as a collector of games, I also buy old cartridges in addition to the DRM-free new purchases of PC games because I intentionally want to thumb my nose at Nintendo's eStore. By buying cartridges, I legally have the things, but they don't show up on Nintendo's balance sheet because anyone who considers the digital download to be an acceptable alternative would preferentially choose it for the lower price. (Hence, any purchase I make won't push someone I was competing with to buy from the eStore instead.)

[ssokolow]

Ping! Unapproved post.

[stormcrow]

That's more free, but it is also stealing.

I think you could make a moral argument, that based on the concept of copyright as enshrined in the US Constitution and the US concept of copyright and patents, the real thief is Disney.

Hear me out. Most people are familiar with the Mickey Mouse Copyright Act, aka the Copyright Term Extension Act of 1998. It extended the terms of copyright protection well beyond the average lifetime of most individuals solely in the realm of protecting the first Mickey Mouse cartoon, "Steam Boat Willie". It was bought and paid for by Disney and other corporate studios to keep Mikey Mouse, or at least the version of him in Steamboat Willie out of the public domain. Any other extended protections were merely coincidental to that concern.

Now, it's very easy to argue that under traditional property protections that physical property could be held in perpetuity. And I heard some of those same arguments used back around that time. The problem is, if problem there was, is that ideas are not property nor is the expression of an idea in a creative work. It has been so that since the founding of our country that ideas had special treatment. The originator of a specific expression of an idea had exclusive use of that expression for only a limited time. After that limited time the idea was moved from exclusive use to public domain. The idea being that all ideas were in themselves simply built upon the backs of other ideas from the public trust.

Now, the argument goes that since Disney continuously tries to keep its expressions of ideas built on the backs of the ideas in the public trust, Disney is guilty of theft of those ideas by keeping them out of returning and contributing to the public trust from which they originate.

I have trouble supporting anything Disney does because it's not a reputable corporation any more than Al Capone was a reputable citizen despite all the soup kitchens he maintained.

I also have no trouble with people that pirate Disney works because Disney is itself already stealing from the public in general in nearly every branch of their corporation: taxes, employment, ideas and stories, political sabotage, etc.