Mozilla has pushed out the Firefox 38 version for Mac, Linux and Windows — with and without Digital Rights Management (DRM) support.
In May 2014, Mozilla had revealed that it would be imbibing HTML5 DRM into the next version of Firefox. A year later, Mozilla has stayed true to its promise — albeit a tad reluctantly — and introduced HTML5 DRM support for Firefox 38.
"We are enabling DRM in order to provide our users with the features they require in a browser and allow them to continue accessing premium video content," revealed Mozilla.
However, Mozilla also revealed that it has also made available another Firefox 38 download for users who do not want DRM. This version will not install Adobe's Content Decryption Module (CDM) automatically. CDM is deployed to play back content that is DRM-wrapped in the browser.
"We also recognize that not everybody wants DRM, so we are also offering a separate Firefox download without the CDM enabled by default for those users who would rather not have the CDM downloaded to their browser on install," noted the company.
For those wondering what DRM is, it is basically like a virtual anti-piracy padlock that is deployed by copyright holders and publishers to restrict the unlawful changing or copying of material that is copyrighted. However, DRM also has the restrictive ability to enable a user to use the content he/she buys legally. Moreover, while most open source technologies enable users to tinker away — make alterations, rebuild, etc. — DRM would restrict this liberty.
Usually, paid digital content is DRM protected such as eBooks, subscription services like Netflix, Spotify, etc. Free content, on the other hand is usually, DRM-free such as most YouTube videos, podcasts, etc. DRM-free translates into no restrictions for copying or playing the content and the user can do so as many times they desire.
Currently, Microsoft Silverlight and Adobe Flash enable users to stream content that is DRM-protected in their browser. Generally, browsers offer support for DRM either natively or via plug-ins so as to enable users to view websites where one cannot play back content unless it is DRM-enabled. With a browser having an in-built DRM solution that ties in with HTML5 standard, users will be able to watch videos seamlessly and not worry about security problems and plug-ins.
Firefox 38 not only brings support for DRM to play protected content in the browser, but improved UI for Android and Ruby annotation support.
Photo: Mozilla in Europe | Flickr
