Google Proposing HDCP Content Protection Be Added To Intel's Linux Graphics Driver

Sure to ruffle some feathers, a Google/ChromeOS developer is looking for comments on the company's patches to add HDCP - High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection - to Intel's open-source Linux kernel graphics driver.

Google's Sean Paul of the Chrome OS team sent out a "RFC" (request for comments) about his patches implementing HDCP content protection within the i915 Direct Rendering Manager driver.

These patches and user-space ABI are based on what Google has already been using within Chrome OS. This implementation includes adding a new DRM connector protector for indicating when content protection is desired or enabled, adding a DHCP framework, and implementing HDCP over HDMI and DisplayPort.

High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection is a common form of digital copy protection for securing digital audio/video across cables/connections and preventing HDCP-encrypted content from being played on unauthorized devices.

It will be interesting to see where these six patches lead, but it does look like there is some willingness by upstream Intel developers to allow this in their mainline kernel driver as the i915 DRM driver maintainer has already provided some feedback to the Googler on the code and another Intel Linux graphics developer has also commented on the ocde.