[horsawlarway]

Not really. If it's available to view, it's available. Full stop.

There's no way around that. You can't magically change the universe so that content that's viewed can't be captured. It HAS to be converted to analog somewhere. That signal can always be captured and converted back to a digital form that's no longer embedded with DRM.

Best case: you make it marginally more difficult for a mom&pop computer user to copy your content. Anyone with a lick of understanding and 100 dollars to buy some hardware will be able to get it without any problem.

Worst case: you introduce all sorts of unnecessary security holes with poorly written software, that can't be audited (legally speaking), and does absolutely nothing to slow the availability of the content online and for free.

[throwaway613834]

>> It could be easy to view but hard to save and distribute. Why can't it?

> Not really. If it's available to view, it's available. Full stop. Best case: you make it marginally more difficult for a mom&pop computer user to copy your content. Anyone with a lick of understanding and 100 dollars to buy some hardware will be able to get it without any problem.

You literally just agreed with my point though.

[Latty]

The issue you are ignoring is that only one person needs to "save and distribute" it, then the pirated version becomes easier to view than the DRMed version.

The proof in the pudding is that every TV show and film is instantly available online to anyone who can work a BitTorrent client.

[rimliu]

No. Netflix is way easier for me than torrenting. I've never pirated music, but I watched a few of torrented movies. However since the ITMS, Netflix and Amazon video become available in my country I never bothered with torrents. I don't even have torrent client on my computer.

[Latty]

You are missing my point - I agree entirely. Streaming services offer a (mostly) better experience than BitTorrent - but only when they are supported by the device you want, and the DRM doesn't get in the way.

My point was that DRM doesn't stop anyone torrenting the content - it only takes one person to break it, which will happen. It does mean some people won't be able to watch the content legally, which will push them away from the legal option.

The only thing DRM really stops is the "let me give you a copy" friend-to-friend copying, which is the equivalent of sharing a VHS copy back in the day. Is stopping that really worth pushing people away from your legal option?

[throwaway613834]

No, I'm not ignoring those. See my prior comments:

- https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15279688

- https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15279855

[Latty]

Your first link, there is truth to it, the most obscure and small stuff won't be pirated. Does that matter? I don't think anyone is only looking to defend things that are that obscure. Anything with even a middling number of people interested has it's DRM blasted through very quickly as far as I see.

Your second point, Denouvo is for video games and is a very different ballpark - it turns out storing code to lock things down is a lot easier in an executable vs in a video. DRM is certainly more effective in games (although the evidence is it causes way more problems for legitimate users, and Humble Bundle et al have proven that users prefer legitimate options when they are easy and affordable).

[jamesgeck0]

Hard to save and distribute only lasts until one party figures out how to get the content in an unencumbered format. Even if it was hard/expensive for them to do so, they can distribute it to the world easily.

[throwaway613834]

I recall reading another comment [1] on this submission about some DRM technology being claimed to protect content for some 300 days in practice. To me that sounds like it's working pretty darn well.

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15279266

[fghtr]

Consider Intel ME, which has the full control over your device independently on the operating system. If it somehow works together with the DRM module, the DRM will work.

[floatboth]

It kinda does, apparently — but modern movie DRM actually relies on HDCP — sending encrypted video to your monitor and decrypting it there.