The term DRM usually evokes keyservers, but in that sense UltraViolet is meta-DRM, because it has no content-decrypting keyservers of its own. Instead, it's basically a big list of content you currently have rights for, designed solely for interop. You get these rights by using UV unlock codes, or pairing a "retailer service" which then imports its unlocked items into your UV one, and vice versa.<p>The linked 'retailer service' is the one that has the actual content, and that service runs its own content-decrypting keyservers.<p>With UV shutting down, the ongoing library interop between the UV partners will go away and further gains to any of those libraries will not be propagated to others.<p>The concerns about DRM keyservers going away is a real one, but that's not what's happening (this time).
I am pretty sad to see UV go because of the far more liberal policies it had regarding membership and sharing. UltraViolet supported a ton of smaller studios, television shows, etc. and their sharing system allowed you to share your library with up to five friends, who each had their own logins and ability to link all of their various retailers.<p>MoviesAnywhere is far more restrictive. Only five major studios are participating, and smaller studios have actually so far been shut out. (STX has tried to get onto MA with no luck.) And obviously it doesn't yet support TV either. Their view on sharing is that you should use the sharing features of a retailer, but all of the retailers have the same, heavy-handed requirement for sharing: Apple, Google, and Amazon video library sharing requires sharing a single credit card for purchasing across linked accounts, which prevents their sharing methods from being used for casual/friend use.<p>That being said, with studios gradually pulling out of UV anyways, the number of titles you could get new UV rights on was really diminishing anyways, and if each linked Vudu account is going to get permanent copies of our shared UV library when UV shuts down, it'll be good to have confidence that we aren't going to lose those titles.
I'm curious if anyone here thinks it would be morally or ethically wrong to download all the movies that you've already paid for via bittorrent? I can't think of a convincing argument against it, other than being technically illegal.
Persistence of services like this, and true ownership of media you purchase are important concepts.<p>VidAngel is currently in court fighting Disney over their version of a system I invented to solve these problems.
Paid money to have digital access to these movies, and after the shut down all of the content may not be accessible. I would like to buy an digital file like I can for music.
DRM is crippleware which has always been a terrible idea. Let's ditch the focus on corporate profits and instead focus on making society better. Which is indirectly good for corporate profit anyway.<p>Edit: I wish the Hacker in HN was real.
A good start, but it's not enough. DRM schemes are designed to take away your fair and lawful rights as a participant in the media ecosystem. <i>Every</i> single one of them should be shut down.