Adobe adds DRM in a flash
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ADOBE COURTS the big boys with a new addition to its Flash Media Server family, the Flash Media Rights Management Server software (FMRMS).
The new software lets content providers encrypt FLV and F4V audio and video files and then set access policies for them. Basically, DRM technology is now being applied to Flash and broadcasting firms will now be able to enforce access requirements and expiration dates to content, even after it has been distributed, to make sure it isn’t reused or passed on without permission.
The software is mainly aimed at big media businesses (the movie and television market) trying to defend their content, by making sure there is no " misuse" of any videos viewed. What is surprising is that the software works even when the video isn’t being watched online. FMRMS caches the licence locally, so videos can be watched without any internet connection whatsoever.
Of course, shoving DRM into Flash will seriously limit what can be done with streamed flash content and will significantly impede fair use.
Electronic Frontier Foundation's Seth Schoen reckons that it probably won't even stop copyright infringement from occurring, instead believing that “technology developers may be threatened and the technologies the users need [will be] driven underground".
On the other hand, it’s possible that if writers do well and start becoming profitable online, they will, like the music industry stars before them, come to see DRM as an obstacle in the path to bigger profits, hopefully causing the model to change in the near future. µ
Comments
Adobe and DRM
Anyone remember Adobe's previous dabbelings in DRM? PDF "encryption" anyone? It's all pathetically simple to crack, but that type of DRM never stands in the way of trying to use the product (other than the rights they withhold from you)So it's not really "that surpising" that files will be viewable offline too.. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if this just adds some markers in the video data of a file itself (or a small wrapper around the data), add some pseudo-encryption on the content..
That may sound idiotic but this way Adobe can say they now have DRM, without changing the only video-on-the-web format that actually works into a disaster like it's competitors.
Yes, it will be cracked on day one, but all the other DRM formats have been cracked too.. if DRM works because of anything it's because of the DMCA, which does not discriminate between 256-bit keys in a secret TPA module or using XOR...
They could also point out their DRM is relativly hassle-free compared to Microsofts hell of buggy internet license servers, crashing licencing routines, incompatible versions of the same platform, tie-ins with a particular OS, f***ng things up right down to the hardware layer, etc etc.
In other words, if Adobe follows their usual "KISS" style (which both the old adobe (with PDF) and macromedia had), it will be like "a better Fairplay than Fairplay".
If Adobe didn't f**k up and it does work that way, it might succeed in luring content producers to the web (like Fairplay did for music) and actually getting them an audience too. Then one of them will at one point drop the DRM and the rest will follow.. (because the first one is making more money from it) like we see happing now with music.
Meanwhile, the tech savvy amongst us can liberate our content from rights removal with some simple tools which Adobe probably won't even bother sueing unless someone is making money from it (and to make money tries to make the less savy users aware of it).
I hate flash based sites
As a PC gamer I frequently visit game publisher, developer sites for patches and such and I hate the ones that are completely flash based. They are hoggishly slow and basically suck.My fix
As soon I run into any annoyance because of this at all I'll immediately delete flash from my system. (and secretly I'm hoping for it now that I decided that)Cross platform iPlayer ?
If flash is available with expiry dates then the BBC could use this instead of their homegrown iPlayer. This would give wider availability than iPlayer (Windows, Mac and Linux) and remove the need for the BBC to try to maintain their own private formats security.Nails a plenty
It was only a matter of time before flash attempted the same thing as WM. Is this anything to do with MSofts Silverlight hitting the scene?Even though I have a decent pc and connection, usually find the flash enabled sites an annoyance; shiny and glittery spring to mind.
Thank god
for Firefoxes flash killer!But then dont they realise that if you can look/hear it you can copy it???
Its only a pointless panacea that will make life harder for the honest and no harder for the dishonest.
Flash video conquers all
This is just the final step that Flash video needed to stop anyone from using Windows Media, QuickTime, or RealPlayer ever again.Multi-OS playback? Check.
HD capabilities? Check.
DRM? Check.
The vast majority of Flash content won't use this DRM, as it is only for those content kings who are truly paranoid or control freaks, and it is meant to put an end to any argument comparing Silverlight to Flash.
As for those who like to block Flash content or uninstall the player, you may want to pull over to the side of the road and let technology and the rest of the world get by. Maybe you can find a nice text-only browser to use, as those images in your browser may be too distracting or bogging your machine down. In the meantime, the rest of use who are not 98 years old or using a serious P.O.S. computer will be viewing Flash content.
right vs. wrong
There are many comments about DRM along the lines of: it only hurts those who are honest. In actuallity, intelectual property rights are a relatively new idea and are solely created by government fiat. They are whatever our government says they are, and they are as strong as the lobbists behind then and as weak as a fed-up electorate makes them. The DCMA is always one election from extension or extinction.Great move
Putting prone-to-trouble DRM stuffing into bandwidth-hogging Flash is really a wonderful idea.Now I await with feverish anticipation the inevitable bug that will, in one fell swoop, render all those inhumanly annoying Flash sites unviewable because of faulty DRM restrictions.
Come on, Adobe, you can do it.
Make my day.
DRM Required by Potential Customers
I was in a meeting late last year in which an Adobe represetative was told that Flash had not been considered for our campus video server, because some faculty demanded DRM on their lecture videos. The rep replied that he had often been told that Flash DRM was needed for higher education acceptance. He also said it was coming soon.@J-Man
I have a 3.4 GHz Core 2 Quad, and it still sputters when trying to view a simple flash video at full screen (YouTube or Google video, nothing HD, with flash 9.0.115 and latest NVIDIA drivers). I generally end up blocking all flash because trying to run 32-bit flash inside my 64-bit browser that I run on 64-bit Linux is extremely buggy, if it works at all. Once it crashes (usually after only a couple of sites with flash), all flash blocked until I restart my browser. It's actually nice that I don't get the massive browser slowdown from all the useless flash.Multi-OS playback? Check.
HD capabilities? Check.
DRM? Check.
64-bit support: D'OH
Reliable Linux support: D'OH
Full Screen: D'OH
Fast: D'OH
Reliable PocketPC support: D'OH
PowerPC Linux support: D'OH
Android Support: D'OH
ARM Linux support: D'OH
What exactly was the "all" that flash was conquering? I've got native support for non-drm WMV9 files in 64-bit Linux (full screen even). I don't come across QuickTime much anymore, but it hasn't given me a problem in 5 years. RealPlayer is kinda clunky and rather slow, but it actually works fine last I checked.
As for the people who think flash is some of the greatest technology or that it should be central to your website, you may want to pull over to the side of the road and let technology and the rest of the world get by. Maybe you can find a nice browser from the last century to play with somewhere (pre-x64). I hear Voleware is often quite dated.
It's a shame. I would actually like Flash if it were usable (plays full screen videos just fine in a pure 64-bit environment at speeds comparable to other video players), and stayed up to date. Flash 8 for Linux was delayed so long that it became a late release of flash 9. Until I can count on flash to always work, they're blacklisted from my web service offerings.