DVDs, MP3s, YouTube, and other hindrances to free software
Denver Gingerich
About this presentation
- This presentation uses S5: A Simple Standards-Based Slide Show System
- For more details about this presentation, including errata and where to find video recordings of my talk, please see my blog post on it
Copyright © 2009 Denver Gingerich.
This work by Denver Gingerich is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.
(the presentation used for my talk did not contain this slide)
About the speaker
Overview
- What we're talking about and why
- TPMs (DRM) - DVDs, Blu-ray, ...
- Patents - codecs (MP3, H.264, ...), threats
- Proprietary formats - Flash, AIR, ...
What are we talking about?
- Note on "free software"
- Anything that prevents a person from doing everyday activities if they use entirely free software
Why do we care?
- Why is it important to be able to use entirely free software?
- It matters for Dell, ASUS, Acer, ARM, etc., who will make free software mainstream (Dell: LinDVD, ARM: asking Adobe, all: Flash and codecs licensing)
- Promotes innovation in operating systems and hardware: relatively easy to port free software, would immediately give users full experience (no licensing needed)
- Control is in the hands of any software developer and anyone who can hire them (bugs fixed faster, customization easy); not limited to developers in a single company
- Think about why you use free software: customizability, ease of acquisition, stability, no vendor lock-in - using any non-free software can compromise these benefits
TPMs
What are TPMs/DRM?
- Technological protection measures or digital rights/restrictions management
- What are they?
- Methods of trying to prevent copying content (movies, music) by encrypting content and obfuscating the key used to unlock and display it
- How effective are they?
- Most TPMs can be defeated by readily-available circumvention tools
- At best, the TPM vendor is engaged in a cat and mouse game with the tool creators
- TPM vendors are continually trying to push the key further into the hardware (ie. HDCP)
Where TPMs are found
- On most DVDs (CSS) and Blu-ray discs (AACS), in Flash (RTMPE), iTunes video (FairPlay)
- 34/34 tested DVDs from the "Big Six" film studios use CSS:
- Warner: 5/5 (ie. Chariots of Fire, Rome series)
- Paramount (Viacom): 4/4 (ie. Forrest Gump, Sleeper Cell series)
- Columbia (Sony): 7/7 (ie. The Patriot, Monty Python and the Holy Grail)
- Fox (News Corp.): 3/3 (ie. Edward Scissorhands)
- Universal: 6/6 (ie. Schindler's List, A Beautiful Mind)
- Disney: 9/9 (ie. Gone in Sixty Seconds, Prince Caspian)
- Mini-majors (MGM, Lionsgate, Dreamworks) use CSS (10/10)
Why are TPMs a problem?
- We can't make a free software player
- CSS specifications §6.2.4.1(b): "All implementations of Authenticators and Descramblers shall include features clearly designed to effectively frustrate ... attempts to discover decrypted confidential CSS Keys"
- We can't (legally) break it: Legal protection for TPMs in the form of anti-circumvention laws in many countries
- Importing and distributing circumvention tools is illegal
- Using circumvention tools sometimes allowed, but how does one acquire them to use them?
- Coming soon to Canada (if we don't stop it)
What can we do about TPMs?
- Talk to your MP (would help Canadians and help set precedent for other countries)
- Probably not receptive to free software argument, try anti-competitive argument instead (FairPlay is good example)
- Choose content available without TPMs when possible (DVDs from independent studios, DRM-free music stores, etc.)
- CSS-free DVDs: The Genius Club (Cloud Ten), Klimt (Mongrel Media), Chopin: Desire for Love (MTI Home Video)
Patents
Intro to patents and their use
- A patent is a limited time right to sue people who use your idea, intended to promote innovation
- With software, patents are most often seen in audio and video codecs (methods for storing data)
- Codec patents are usually owned by large companies like Microsoft, Apple, Qualcomm, and Broadcom
Where codecs are used, why it's a problem
- Royalty-requiring codecs are widely-used
- video: MPEG-2 (DVDs), H.264/AVC (Blu-ray, Flash), Sorenson Spark (Flash)
- audio: MP3, AAC (iTunes), WMA
- Flash is the dominant player in web video (used by YouTube) due to gratis player that supports royalty-requiring codecs
- Not allowed to distribute a decoder without patent holders' permission
- Only way to get a free software decoder is by getting a worldwide, irrevocable, royalty-free license from all patent holders
What can we do about patented codecs?
- Royalty-free codecs exist
- video: Theora, Dirac
- audio: Vorbis, Speex, FLAC
- If you're buying a portable music player, find one that plays Ogg Vorbis
- If you're distributing audio or video content, be sure it is available in royalty-free codecs
- Start using <video> now; Firefox 3.5 will support it and it offers an easy fallback to Flash (the current dominant web video mechanism)
- Ask sites you use to support royalty-free codecs; CBC Radio does Vorbis
Other patent issues
- Unqualified threats
- Microsoft claims open source software infringes on their patents in at least 235 separate cases (42 of these are in the Linux kernel)
- Patent agreements involving open source vendors
- Microsoft deal with Novell - Microsoft won't sue anyone using Novell products for using their patents
- Microsoft deal with TomTom - TomTom settled out of court, licensing 3 Microsoft patents on FAT filesystem
- All of these make companies wary of selling or using anything with Linux or other free software components since Microsoft might sue them
Proprietary formats
About proprietary formats
- A proprietary format is a data format for which no complete specification exists and which no free software player can fully interpret
- Examples (proprietary players): Flash (Adobe Flash Player), AIR applications (Adobe Integrated Runtime)
- Proprietary formats may be partially specified (as in the case of Flash), but the specification leaves out information required to fully implement a player for the format (such as RTMPE in Flash)
- Some proprietary formats can be partially interpreted by a free software player (ie. Flash through Gnash or Swfdec), but this player cannot be used as a drop-in replacement for the proprietary player
Why are proprietary formats a problem?
- Prevalence of proprietary formats:
- Flash is widely-used on the web, especially for video (ie. YouTube) but also for layout on some restaurant and other web sites
- AIR is growing in popularity; seem most often in Twitter clients
- Free software players will not be able to fully interpret proprietary formats because there is no complete specification
- OS and CPU architecture vendors are at the mercy of the proprietary player vendor: if they don't provide a player, mainstream users won't use the OS/CPU (since it "can't do as much")
What can we do about proprietary formats?
- If you encounter a web site that uses Flash, inform the webmaster of the problem; it may help to mention that iPhones can't view their site
- If you are building a web site, use standard technologies like JavaScript instead of Flash
- If you want to build a Rich Internet Application (RIA), use Titanium instead of AIR
Summarizing
Reiterating - Why do we care?
- Why is it important to be able to use entirely free software?
- It matters for Dell, ASUS, Acer, ARM, etc., who will make free software mainstream (Dell: LinDVD, ARM: asking Adobe, all: Flash and codecs licensing)
- Promotes innovation in operating systems and hardware: relatively easy to port free software, would immediately give users full experience (no licensing needed)
- Control is in the hands of any software developer and anyone who can hire them (bugs fixed faster, customization easy); not limited to developers in a single company
- Think about why you use free software: customizability, ease of acquisition, stability, no vendor lock-in - using any non-free software can compromise these benefits
What can we do?
- TPMs (DRM) - talk to your MP, prefer DRM-free content
- Patents - publish with royalty-free codecs, ask sites for royalty-free codecs
- Proprietary formats - avoid Flash and AIR, use JavaScript and Titanium instead; inform webmasters their sites don't work (ie. on an iPhone)