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"Awesome" DRM

A list of totally NOT Awesome DRM and the cons and cons of each DRM scheme. Please avoid DRM at all costs!

See also: DRM

DRM IS NEVER AWESOME

The one exception: Direct Rendering Manager (a component of the Linux kernel)

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TL;DR

I don't support DRM, and neither should you.

Extended TL;DR:

This article is a list of DRM schemes and their problems. It is not advocating for the use of DRM whatsoever, in fact, it is advocating the exact opposite.

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Denuvo

Pros of Denuvo

• None

Cons of Denuvo

• Game will be unplayable in the future when the DRM server goes down, even if the game could easily work offline (example: Sonic Mania Plus)
• Excessive writing to the disk results in higher CPU usage (shortens battery life) and wears down your expensive solid state drive at a much faster rate
• Has kernel level access. If compromised, it can gain control of your entire computer
• Is classified as malware by multiple anti-viruses, due to its ring 0 CPU access
• Only works on Windows
• You are giving up your rights
• Is extremely easy to crack, several games have been cracked before release, and it is extremely common for the DRM to be cracked within hours of a new release
• Hurts game performance and makes the game much slower
• It is DRM
• It is proprietary, closed source software
• It is bad for the environment
• DRM is defective by design

Google WideVine

Pros of WideVine DRM

• None

Cons of WideVine DRM

• Is owned by Google
• Is not secure, pointless, as it is constantly cracked
• Prevents you from accessing media with freedom
• Hurts small and medium size developers, as Google refuses to certify most of them
• Content will be unplayable in the future if contained inside the DRM
• You are giving up your rights
• It is DRM
• It is proprietary, closed source software
• It is bad for the environment
• DRM is defective by design

See also: It's time to cut WideVine DRM

Adobe PrimeTime

Pros of Adobe PrimeTime

• None

Cons of Adobe PrimeTime

• Is owned by Adobe
• It is not widely used anymore, and isn't supported by most browsers by default
• It is DRM
• It is proprietary, closed source software
• It is bad for the environment
• DRM is defective by design

Microsoft PlayReady

Pros of PlayReady

• None

Cons of PlayReady

• Is owned by Microsoft
• It can lock viewing content into Microsoft Edge or Internet Explorer
• It is DRM
• It is proprietary, closed source software
• It is bad for the environment
• DRM is defective by design

Apple FairPlay

Pros of Apple FairPlay

• None

Cons of Apple FairPlay

• Is owned by Apple
• Further locks you into the Apple ecosystem, which can be hard to escape
• It is DRM
• It is proprietary, closed source software
• It is bad for the environment
• DRM is defective by design

Encrypted Media Extensions (EME)

Pros of EME

• None

Cons of EME

• It is not an open standard
• It is DRM
• It is proprietary, closed source software
• It is bad for the environment
• DRM is defective by design

DRM in general

Pros of DRM

None

Cons of DRM

• DRM does a very poor job at preventing copy protection
• DRM does a very good job at preventing innovation
• DRM can be used as a weapon against new companies and organizations
• DRM encorages monopolization
• DRM is proprietary, closed source software
• DRM is bad for the environment
• DRM is defective by design

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Notable quotes about DRM

• If consumers even know there's a DRM, what it is, and how it works, we've already failed. - Peter Lee, Disney corporation
• The technology in question is an example of Digital Restrictions Management (DRM) -- technology designed to restrict the public. Describing it as "copyright protection" puts a favorable spin on a mechanism intended to deny the public the exercise of those rights which copyright law has not yet denied them. - Richard Stallman, founder of the Free Software Foundation and the GNU project (2006)
• The key issue here is that the protection scheme under Blu-ray is very anti-consumer and there's not much visibility of that. The inconvenience is that the movie studios got too much protection at the expense of consumers and it won't work well on PCs. You won't be able to play movies and do software in a flexible way. It's not the physical format that we have the issue with, it's that the protection scheme on Blu is very anti-consumer. - Bill Gates (2005)
• Digital files cannot be made uncopyable, any more than water can be made not wet. - Bruce Schneier (2001)
• DRM fails completely at preventing copying, but it is brilliant at preventing innovation - Cory Doctorow

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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

No-one has asked any questions yet, so I will add one that I expect to be the most common:

Why did you title this repository the way you did

Awesome lists are a thing on GitHub, but DRM is not awesome. An unawesome list doesn't have the same appeal, and I didn't want to just call it "list of DRM schmmes"

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File info

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File type: Markdown (*.md *.mkd *.mdown *.markdown)

File version: 2 (2022, Sunday, August 14th at 7:02 pm PST)

Line count (including blank lines and compiler line): 249

Current article language: English (EN_USA) / Markdown (CommonMark) / HTML5 (HyperText Markup Language 5.3)

Encoding: UTF-8 (Emoji 12.0 or higher recommended)

All times are UTC-7 (PDT/Pacific Time) (Please also account for DST (Daylight Savings Time) for older/newer entries up until it is abolished/no longer followed)

Note that on 2022, Sunday, March 13th at 2:00 am PST, the time jumped ahead 1 hour to 3:00 am.

You may need special rendering support for the <details> HTML tag being used in this document

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File history

Click/tap here to expand/collapse the file history section for this project

Version 1 (2022, Saturday, August 13th at 8:35 pm PST)

This version was made by: @seanpm2001

Changes:

• Started the file
• Added the title section
• Added the Denuvo DRM section
• • Added the pros of Denuvo DRM subsection
• • Added the cons of Denuvo DRM subsection
• Added the WideVine DRM section
• • Added the pros of WideVine DRM subsection
• • Added the cons of WideVine DRM subsection
• Added the file info section
• Added the file history section
• No other changes in version 1

Version 2 (2022, Sunday, August 14th at 7:02 pm PST)

This version was made by: @seanpm2001

Changes:

• Updated the DRM IS NEVER AWESOME section
• Added the TL;DR section
• • Added the extended TL;DR microsection
• Added the Adobe PrimeTime DRM section
• • Added the pros of Adobe PrimeTime DRM subsection
• • Added the cons of Adobe PrimeTime DRM subsection
• Added the Microsoft PlayReady DRM section
• • Added the pros of PlayReady DRM subsection
• • Added the cons of PlayReady DRM subsection
• Added the Apple FairPlay DRM section
• • Added the pros of Apple FairPlay DRM subsection
• • Added the cons of Apple FairPlay DRM subsection
• Added the EME (Encrypted Media Extensions) section
• • Added the pros of EME subsection
• • Added the cons of EME subsection
• Added the DRM in general section
• • Added the pros of DRM subsection
• • Added the cons of DRM subsection
• Added the Notable quotes about DRM section
• Added the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) section
• • Added the Why did you title this repository the way you did subsection
• Updated the file info section
• Updated the file history section
• No other changes in version 2

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