Widevine legal issues

[Ozan Bora Fikir]

Hi all,

I see that we can enable widevine plugin component update by setting gyp defines, enable-widevine.

But I don't understand why do we need to have an additional flag for chromium, i.e. why it doesn't enabled by default? 

Is there any legal restrictions to distribute widevine enabled chromium? 

[PhistucK]

Yes, it is not open source.

☆PhistucK

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[Ozan Bora Fikir]

ok it's not open source, but it's not an output of my chromium build as well. enable-widevine gyp define just allows component updater to download widevine plugin. I really don't understand the legal problem in here. 

Besides we used to have NPAPI plugins such as Silverlight to have a DRM module, but now there is no other PPAPI plugin that contains DRM module, and widevine plugin itself is not publicly available to download. 

So does it mean if I have a chromium based browser to distribute, my users are not able to display DRM protected contents?

[Victor Khimenko]

On Thu, Oct 15, 2015 at 7:31 PM, Ozan Bora Fikir <ozan...@gmail.com> wrote:

ok it's not open source, but it's not an output of my chromium build as well. enable-widevine gyp define just allows component updater to download widevine plugin. I really don't understand the legal problem in here. 

Legal problem is very simple: unless you have a license to use widevine plugin you couldn't use it. Chromium source DOES NOT come with such a license. You could probably sign an agreement with widevine, but I don't know details.

 

Besides we used to have NPAPI plugins such as Silverlight to have a DRM module, but now there is no other PPAPI plugin that contains DRM module, and widevine plugin itself is not publicly available to download. 

Yeah, that's the sad reality we live in. Note that Silverlight only ever supported DRM on MacOS and Windows, Moonlight never included the features.

 

So does it mean if I have a chromium based browser to distribute, my users are not able to display DRM protected contents?

Not till you'll sign an agreement with widevine and get a license. Chrome is not the only such browser, Opera have recently joined the club:

  http://blogs.opera.com/desktop/2015/07/opera-developer-32-0-1910-0-netflix-edition/

[PhistucK]

I am not a lawyer and I am not familiar with the Widevine policy or business model, but I believe it is licensed (Google owns it, so it chose to embed it with its products) for use.

☆PhistucK

[Marshall Greenblatt]

On Thu, Oct 15, 2015 at 1:43 PM, Victor Khimenko <kh...@chromium.org> wrote:

On Thu, Oct 15, 2015 at 7:31 PM, Ozan Bora Fikir <ozan...@gmail.com> wrote:

ok it's not open source, but it's not an output of my chromium build as well. enable-widevine gyp define just allows component updater to download widevine plugin. I really don't understand the legal problem in here. 

Legal problem is very simple: unless you have a license to use widevine plugin you couldn't use it. Chromium source DOES NOT come with such a license. You could probably sign an agreement with widevine, but I don't know details.

From talking with Widevine in the context of CEF (another open source project based on the Content API) my understanding is as follows:

1. The Widevine Content Decryption Module (CDM) is available free of change provided you download it from Google using Chromum's component updater. The component updater is currently only supported on Windows and OS X.

2. You must sign a Master License Agreement (MLA) with Widevine if you plan to encrypt content and issue Widevine licenses. There are no costs associated with the MLA.

So, if your Chromium-based application is simply a client of other services like Netflix then you shouldn't need a license to enable Widevine support.

I've also CC'd Faniel Altmark from the Widevine team who can offer further clarification if necessary.

[PhistucK]

Huh. Sounds like Widevine (for encryption or decryption) is free of charge (provided that you simply sign a license). Am I understanding correctly?

☆PhistucK

[Marshall Greenblatt]

On Thu, Oct 15, 2015 at 2:03 PM, PhistucK <phis...@gmail.com> wrote:

Huh. Sounds like Widevine (for encryption or decryption) is free of charge (provided that you simply sign a license). Am I understanding correctly?

My understanding is that decryption in the client is free of change provided you comply with the CDM distribution requirement. There may be costs for the content provider outside of the MLA that I'm unaware of.

[Anand]

On Friday, October 16, 2015 at 4:00:29 AM UTC+11, Ozan Bora Fikir wrote:

Hi all,

I see that we can enable widevine plugin component update by setting gyp defines, enable-widevine.

But I don't understand why do we need to have an additional flag for chromium, i.e. why it doesn't enabled by default? 

Aside from the legal issues, chromium has a (fairly recent) policy of "entirely open-source by default" builds. Read:

https://groups.google.com/a/chromium.org/d/topic/chromium-dev/yiDZxxsQrHQ/discussion