From 0e5cd14fdc3d6ca704a52aadfcaa7ffda839dae3 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Drew DeVault Date: Mon, 7 Oct 2019 07:44:31 -0400 Subject: Add HDCP in Weston --- _posts/2019-10-07-HDCP-in-Weston.md | 123 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 123 insertions(+) create mode 100644 _posts/2019-10-07-HDCP-in-Weston.md diff --git a/_posts/2019-10-07-HDCP-in-Weston.md b/_posts/2019-10-07-HDCP-in-Weston.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3014c5c --- /dev/null +++ b/_posts/2019-10-07-HDCP-in-Weston.md @@ -0,0 +1,123 @@ +--- +layout: post +title: Why Collabora really added Digital Restrictions Management to Weston +tags: [wayland, drm, philosophy] +--- + +A recent article from Collabora, [Why HDCP support in Weston is a good +thing][collabora article], proports to offer a lot of insight into why +[HDCP][hdcp] - a Digital Restrictions Management (DRM) related technology - was +added to [Weston][weston] - a well known basic Wayland compositor which was once +the reference compositor for Wayland. But this article is gaslighting you. +There is one reason and one reason alone that explains why HDCP support landed +in Weston. + +[collabora article]: https://www.collabora.com/news-and-blog/blog/2019/10/03/why-hdcp-support-in-weston-is-a-good-thing/ +[hdcp]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-bandwidth_Digital_Content_Protection +[weston]: https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/wayland/weston + +Q: Why was HDCP added to Weston? + +A: \$\$\$\$\$ + +Why does Collabora want you to *believe* that HDCP support in Weston is a good +thing? Let's look into this in more detail. First: *is* HDCP a bad thing? + +DRM (Digital Restrictions Management) is the collective term for software which +attempts to restrict the rights of users attempting to access digital media. +It's mostly unrelated to Direct Rendering Manager, an important Linux subsystem +for graphics which is closely related to Wayland. Digital Restrictions +Management is software used by media owners to prevent you from enjoying their +content except in specific, pre-prescribed ways. + +There is universal agreement among the software community that DRM is +ineffective. Ultimately, these systems are defeated by the simple fact that no +amount of DRM can stop you from pointing your camera at your screen and pushing +record. But in practice, we don't even need to resort to that - these systems +are far too weak to demand such measures. [Here's a $100 device on Amazon which +can break HDCP][amazon]. DRM is shown to be impossible even in *theory*, as the +decryption keys have to live somewhere in your house in order to watch movies +there. Exfiltrating them is just a matter of putting forth the effort. For most +users, it hardly requires any effort to bypass DRM - they can just punch "watch +[name of movie] for free" into Google. It's well-understood and rather obvious +that DRM systems completely and entirely fail at their stated goal. + +[amazon]: https://www.amazon.com/HSV321/dp/B07C6KCBYB + +No reasonable engineer would knowingly agree to adding a broken system like that +to their system, and trust me - the entire engineering community has been made +well-aware of these faults. Any other system with these obvious flaws would be +discarded immediately, and if the media industry hadn't had their hands firmly +clapped over their ears, screaming "la la la", and throwing money at the +problem, it would have been. But, just adding a broken system isn't necessarily +going to hurt much. The problem is that, in its failure to achieve its stated +goals, DRM brings with it some serious side-effects. DRM is closely tied to +nonfree software - the RIAA mafia wants to keep their garbage a secret, after +all. Moreover, DRM takes away the freedom to play your media when and where you +want. Why should you have to have an internet connection? Why can't you watch it +on your ancient iPod running Rockbox? DRM exists to restrict users from doing +what they want. More sinisterly, it exists to further the industry's push to +end consumer ownership of its products - preferring to steal from you monthly +subscription fees and lease the media to you. Free software maintainers are +responsible for protecting their users from this kind of abuse, and putting DRM +into our software betrays them. + +The authors are of the opinion that HDCP support in Weston does not take away +any rights from users. It doesn't *stop* you from doing anything. This is true, +in the same way that killing environmental regulations doesn't harm the +environment. Adding HDCP support is handing a bottle of whiskey to an abusive +husband. And the resulting system - and DRM as a whole - is known to be +inherently broken and ineffective, a fact that they even acknowledge in their +article. This feature *enables* media companies to abuse *your* users. Enough +cash might help some devs to doublethink their way out of it, but it's true all +the same. They added these features to help abusive companies abuse their users, +in the hopes that they'll send back more money or more patches. They say as much +in the article, it's no secret. + +Or, let's give them the benefit of the doubt: perhaps their bosses forced them +to add this[^1]. There have been other developers on this ledge, and I've talked +them down. Here's the thing: it worked. Their organizations didn't pursue DRM +any further. You are not the lowly code monkey you may think you are. Engineers +have real power in the organization. You can say "no" and it's your +responsibility to say "no" when someone asks you to write unethical code. + +[^1]: This is just for the sake of argument. I've spoken 1-on-1 with some of the developers responsible and they stand by their statements as their personal opinions. + +Some of the people I've spoken to about HDCP for Wayland, particularly for +Weston, are of the opinion that "a protocol for it exists, therefore we will +implement it". This is reckless and stupid. We already know what happens when +you bend the knee to our DRM overlords: look at Firefox. In 2014, Mozilla +added DRM to Firefox after a year of fighting against its standardization in the +W3C (a [captured][capture] organization which governs[^2] web standards). They +capitulated, and it did absolutely nothing to stop them from being steamrolled +by Chrome's growing popularity. Their market-share freefall didn't even slow +down in 2014, or in any year since[^3]. Collabora went down without a fight in +the first place. + +[capture]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regulatory_capture +[^2]: Or at least attempts to govern. +[^3]: [Source: StatCounter](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:StatCounter-browser-ww-monthly-200901-201905.png). Measuring browser market-share is hard, collect your grain of salt [here](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usage_share_of_web_browsers). + +Anyone who doesn't recognize that self-interested organizations with a great +deal of resources are working against *our* interests as a free software +community is an idiot. We are at war with the bad actors pushing these systems, +and they are to be [given no quarter](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_quarter). +Anyone who realizes this and turns a blind eye to it is a coward. Anyone who +doesn't stand up to their boss, sits down, implements it in our free software +ecosystem, and cashes their check the next Friday - is not only a coward, but a +traitor to their users, their peers, and to society as a whole. + +"HDCP support in Weston is a good thing"? It's a good thing for *you*, maybe. +It's a good thing for media conglomerates which want our ecosystem crushed +underfoot. It's a bad thing for your users, and you know it, Collabora. Shame on +you for gaslighting us. + +However... the person who *reverts* these changes is a hero, even in the face of +past mistakes. Weston, Collabora, you still have a chance to repent. Do what you +know is right and stand by those principles in the future. + +--- + +P.S. To make sure I'm not writing downers all the time, rest assured that the +next article will bring good news - RaptorCS has been working hard to correct +the issues I raised in my last article. -- cgit v1.2.3