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I tried creating a web browser and Google blocked me (2019)

blog.samuelmaddock.com

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Re: I tried creating a web browser and Google blocked me (2019)

#161

Post by Anthony-G »

Wowfunhappy wrote: post #60

Isn't this just how DRM works? It's precisely why so many were concerned about EME being adopted into web standards, and why so many are passionate about DRM-Free media. DRM is designed to put restrictions on where, when, and how media is played, including what software it's used with. This doesn't invalidate any of the author's points, and they're right to be upset. But the problem isn't Chrome per se, it's DRM-encu…

Thanks for the link to Libro.fm; it looks like a great initiative. Unfortunately, for a lot of titles I'm interested in, I get this message: "You appear to be accessing the site from a country where this title has restricted rights". Do you know of a similar audiobook provider for the EU?

Re: I tried creating a web browser and Google blocked me (2019)

#162

Post by Wowfunhappy »

Anthony-G wrote: post #161
Wowfunhappy wrote: post #60

Isn't this just how DRM works? It's precisely why so many were concerned about EME being adopted into web standards, and why so many are passionate about DRM-Free media. DRM is designed to put restrictions on where, when, and how media is played, including what software it's used with. This doesn't invalidate any of the author's points, and they're right to be upset. But the problem isn't Chrome per se, it's DRM-encu…

Thanks for the link to Libro.fm; it looks like a great initiative. Unfortunately, for a lot of titles I'm interested in, I get this message: "You appear to be accessing the site from a country where this title has restricted rights" . Do you know of a similar audiobook provider for the EU?

Unfortunately I don't. What I can do is list all the services I know of which sell DRM-Free Audiobooks in the US:

• Libro.fm

• Downpour.com

• Audiobooksnow.com (Check for a "Downloadable" icon, a very small number of tiles without it have DRM).

• Google Play

I bounce between the first three of these regularly, based on price and availability. I've never actually used Google Play for audiobooks; they always seems to cost more.

Hopefully at least one of those has better offerings in the EU!

Re: I tried creating a web browser and Google blocked me (2019)

#163

Post by sneak »

tbodt wrote: post #153
sneak wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They could also reverse engineer the Widevine module binary and reimplement it in their own project. You don't really need Google for this.

Aside from being illegal, defeating the various layers of obfuscation and extracting the private keys requires a very particular set of skills, beyond the reach of most programmers. And then they'll just rotate the key and add more obfuscation, once they're done suing you out of existence.

Reverse engineering publicly available proprietary software distributed as freeware to reimplement free software replacements is not illegal.

Re: I tried creating a web browser and Google blocked me (2019)

#164

Post by btilly »

Aerroon wrote: post #151
btilly wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because if you can playback 4k video from Netflix with a browser under your control, then you can playback 4k video to a file and thereby create a cracked copy that can be pirated. DRM is built on a self-contradictory premise that tremendous amounts of effort are going into making work. Namely, if we save content in a special format, then we can make it impossible for it to be used except as we decide. However they t…

> Because if you can playback 4k video from Netflix with a browser under your control, then you can playback 4k video to a file and thereby create a cracked copy that can be pirated. Can't you just record the screen to do this? Or split the signal in the cable or have the screen itself send the data on to another device. At the very least you can always just physically record the screen itself. At the end of the day,…

Why yes, you can. And so there is pressure on every single hardware vendor to do fancy handshakes to guarantee that it is only going to authorized places that will do authorized things with it. Exactly to make the bypass that you're describing harder to do.

Occasionally this creates a problem that people notice. For example see https://www.macworld.com/article/3116414/oops-you-cant-play-... for one of them.

At the end of the day, you have to ask whether this is worth it. Does it actually help sales to offset the costs?

Actually it doesn't matter what your belief is on that. In the end, Netflix believes that it does. And as long as they are where you buy the content that you want, that means you have to play by their rules. No matter how stupid you think that they are being.

Re: I tried creating a web browser and Google blocked me (2019)

#165

Post by Gunax »

Thaxll wrote: post #108

"I tried creating a web browser, and Google blocked me" Title is very missleading, your web browser works and google does not block you, it's all about DRM. "For the last 2 years I’ve been working on a web browser that now cannot be completed because Google, the creators of the open source browser Chrome, won’t allow DRM in an open source project." This is crap, you should probably have known that before starting the…

The thing about titles is that they often give a summary. Of course it does not tell the whole story--but I don't think it's misleading nor do I think it's crap.

Re: I tried creating a web browser and Google blocked me (2019)

#166

Post by DelightOne »

smaddock wrote: post #133
DelightOne wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This is a closed source, downstream effort which means no modifications can be made to Electron itself. It has the MIT license since 2 months ago. Did the closed-source part change or is that only about the non-npm code?

The code included in the GitHub repository downloads the closed source Electron binaries. Just for comparison, the full source would look something more like what's accessible here: https://github.com/electron/electron

Thanks! I see it as unlikely that they will release the code, because castlabs also seem to have a business of auditing implementations for consideration for the widevine program: https://github.com/castlabs/electron-releases/wiki/EVS#3pl

Re: I tried creating a web browser and Google blocked me (2019)

#167

Post by matheusmoreira »

zucker42 wrote: post #106
speedgoose wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did you consider to not get a license? You could perhaps download and execute Widevine pretending to be Firefox or Chrome. Is there advanced spying software in Widevine preventing to do that?

Potentially, there's a 5 year jail sentence for doing that[1]. [1] https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/1204

Imagine spending 5+ years in prison over copyright. I've seen news about violent criminals doing less time for violent crimes with actual victims.

Re: I tried creating a web browser and Google blocked me (2019)

#168

Post by KirillPanov »

underseacables wrote: post #2

Why aren’t there more browsers? Is it just a matter of all the IP tied up by the majors?

Drew Devault has a great article/rant about this:

https://drewdevault.com/2020/03/18/Reckless-limitless-scope....

Summary quote:

    "It is impossible to:
    * Implement the web correctly
    * Implement the web securely
    * Implement the web at all"

Re: I tried creating a web browser and Google blocked me (2019)

#169

Post by kevingadd »

judge2020 wrote: post #96
kevin_thibedeau wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's also a glaring ADA violation.

https://www.google.com/accessibility/products-features/#!#ch...

"We're perfectly accessible as long as you switch web browsers to the one we make" is probably not going to cut it by ADA standards if someone pushes hard enough. Chrome isn't a 1:1 drop-in replacement, and it may not be available on some devices.
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