[clue] calling Netflix

[Chris Ernst]

On 05/11/2011 07:02 AM, Louis Miller wrote:
> Hi Chris,
> 
>    Yeah, I did some more research, late last night. I discovered I wasn't the first Linux user who wanted to stream Netflix. I found out about the Playready DRM issue. Is there some clause in the contract between MS and Netflix to not release a Linux version for a specified period of time. I even found the company's blog and they don't even seem to hardly even mention the word Linux. I signed a petition, online, for Netflix to release a version of streaming for Linux. It can't be a cost issue, because the Linux community would create a version of Moonlight with DRM for free. Maybe, they are concerned that if the Linux community creates a DRM version of Moonlight that it would be easily hacked.
> 
>    Then, one guy on a website said that the Linux community could create it's own streaming video service and leave out the other platforms, like the Ubuntu Software Center. I would imagine Ubuntu has thought of it and there must be problems with it.
> 
>    Well, Google Chrome is probably going to come to the rescue. It will probably attract a lot of attention, and Netflix may not be able to ignore that market. The other guy thought that Netflix streaming would be built in from the beginning. It might be Linux re-branded into an easy and attractive package, just like Apple is UNIX under the hood, and people use that and don't even think of themselves as UNIX users.
> 

It's not a technical issue.  PlayReady works fine on Linux.  In fact,
there are many Linux based Netflix streaming devices.  It is an issue of
licensing and DRM.

The Movie and TV studios don't want you to be able to capture the stream
and save your own copy.  So Netflix is contractually obligated to take
reasonable measure to prevent that in order to have access to the
studio's content.  PlayReady is the DRM layer that prevents you from
saving the streamed content in any usable format.

Companies that embed PlayReady or distribute it have to pay licensing
fees to Microsoft.  It is not freely distributable.

	- Chris