Re: Firefox and Video DRM
Thanks for your reply.
The DRM that was install, I believe to be Google's as per Firefox's default settings when enabling DRM content.
It has been some time since I gave up watching DRM content and was only using it for a few news sites.
My current stance is 1) DRM is insecure, 2) Any content locked by DRM is obviously not meant to be watched [by me].
Unless I am convinced the DRM is not able to be maliciously modified I doubt I will be reinstalling it.
On Friday, 31-01-2025 at 20:32 Cindy Sue Causey wrote:
> On Fri, 2025-01-31 at 17:50 +1100, George at Clug wrote:
> >
> > Does anyone use Firefox to watch DRM protected Video content?
> >
> > Is it normal for DRM to display lots of ads whenever Firefox is
> > loaded?
>
>
> Hi! What type(s) of ads are you seeing? In other words, are they for
> random consumer products, or are they specifically only about DRM?
>
Hard to recall, it was a long time ago. From memory, junk kind of ads for questionable products.
> Do the ads e.g. open their own new tabs, or are they floating popups,
> or...? The only ads I see are inline with the programming I view. My
> livestreaming adventures are presented just like analog TV used to be
> back in the good ol' days.
>
I think they were in web browser related popups of some kind. Not connected to any visited web site.
>
> > I did enable DRM once, a long time ago, and I started getting annoying
> > ads whenever Firefox was loaded. It took a while for me to determine
> > it was because of the DRM add-on. The DRM add-on was loaded into the
> > user's file space.
>
>
> Where are you seeing that? By running "grep widevine.com -i
> .mozilla/firefox -R", I found my own not-surprising directory here:
>
> /home/<user>/.mozilla/firefox/<current-session>/gmp-widevinecdm
>
> I grepped that (dot)com because it flashed by when I ran a more generic
> widevine grep. That directory within ~/.mozilla is a rational place for
> it since it's Firefox specific.
>
> A super quick "locate" and "apt-file" query didn't find anything else on
> my Debian Trixie. That was as expected. As a matter of fact, locate
> didn't even find that ~/.mozilla directory likely because of that "dot"
> in the Mozilla parent directory.
>
>
> > I do not know if displaying the ads was normal DRM add-on behaviour or
> > whether a malicious web page had replaced the originally downloaded
> > DRM file with a hacked version.
>
>
> If it's not personally invasive to ask, can you remember what website
> originally triggered the DRM add-on's installation?
That is the interesting part. I did not need to go to a web page, they seemed to spawned by the DRM add-on itself, not related to any page I was looking at.
I do not remember the news web sites that had the DRM videos which caused me to enable DRM, I recall they were reputable sites.
>
> Mine only comes into play when I surf over to PlutoTV for the first time
> on newly created profiles. PlutoTV doesn't play the content I binge
> watch until I agree to install the DRM add-on. That's the last time I
> ever see any reference to DRM at all.
>
>
> > My solution at the time was to delete any Firefox folders in my
> > /home/username area (e.g. ~/.mozilla/firefox). DRM was not too
> > important to me, so I now just do not enable DRM.
>
>
> Depending on one's usage needs, you could generate a secondary profile
> that is solely for viewing DRM content. Due to the complexity of my own
> primary Firefox, that's not an attractive option for my usage case
> because I frequently run PlutoTV as an ongoing form of white noise in
> the background. :)
>
>
>
> > https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/enable-drm
> > Firefox for desktop supports the Google Widevine CDM for playing DRM-
> > controlled content.
> > Disabling Google Widevine from the Add-ons Manager prevents it from
> > running on your computer and prevents future updates from downloading.
> >
> > Please reply if you have had any such experiences.
>
>
> One thought based on my own DRM-ad-free experience is one could...
>
> * Generate a brand new test Firefox profile
> * Surf over to pluto(.)tv since it's NOT triggering ads for me
> * Load one of their "channels" (e.g. Criminal Minds) to trigger DRM's
> installation. Try a movie if that doesn't trigger the install.
> * Close and reopen Firefox a few times to see if the pesky ads
> experience is the same or different.
>
> After going that route, Pluto's cookies can easily be deleted via
> Firefox's settings option.
>
> If I was testing this, I might also additionally load several Youtube
> videos in case that combination somehow triggers the initial pesky ads
> depending on where a user resides. Before positive reviews by consumer
> advocate, Clark Howard, brought PlutoTV to my laptops, my memory recall
> is that Youtube would occasionally trigger DRM intervention. Or not?
> It's been a few years.
>
> That thought then adds another variable into this because there's always
> that slight offchance that maybe this is an experience related to a
> user's country of residence.. and that country's laws regarding DRM.
>
> Ultimately, my hope is that PlutoTV will help install the least
> invasive, least offensive DRM possible, and that the install is then
> silently applied universally around the Internet.
>
> As an afterthought for newer Users who want to poke around in their own
> Firefox, I found my DRM add-on under:
>
> about:addons (in address field) > Plugins (tab found in vertical menu)
>
> Click the "..." and choose "Manage" to alter DRM's behavior if it's
> found there.
>
> Best wishes..
>
>
> Cindy :)
> --
> Talking Rock, Pickens County, Georgia, USA
> * runs with birdseed! *
>
>
>
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