Disney+ streaming uses draconian DRM, avoid

First of all, as always my opinions are my own, not those of my employer.

Since I have 2 children I was happy to learn that the Netherlands would be one of the first countries to get Disney+ streaming.

So I subscribed for the testing period, problem all devices in my home run Fedora. I started up Firefox and was greeted with an "Error Code 83", next I tried Chrome, same thing.

So I mailed the Disney helpdesk about this, explaining how Linux works fine with Netflix, AmazonPrime video and even the web-app from my local cable provider. They promised to get back to me in 24 hours, the eventually got back to me in about a week. They wrote: "We are familiar with Error 83. This often happens if you want to play Disney + via the web browser or certain devices. Our IT department working hard to solve this. In the meantime, I want to advise you to watch Disney + via the app on a phone or tablet. If this error code still occurs in a few days, you can check the help center ..." this was on September 23th.

So I thought, ok they are working on this lets give them a few days. It is almost a month later now and nothing has changed. Their so called help-center does not even know about "Error Code 83" even though the internet is full of people experiencing this. Note that this error also happens a lot on other platforms, it is not just Linux.

Someone on tweakers.net has done some digging and this is a Widevine error: "the response is: {"errors":[{"code":"platform-verification-failed","description":"Platform verification status incompatible with security level"}]}". Widevine has 3 security levels and many devices, including desktop Linux and many Android devices only support level 1. In this case e.g. Netflix will not offer full HD or 4k resolutions, but otherwise everything works fine, which is a balance between DRM and usability which I can accept. Disney+ OTOH seems to have the drm features kranked up to maximum draconian settings and simply will not work on a lot of android devices, nor on Chromebooks, nor on desktop Linux.

So if you care about Linux in any way, please do not subscribe to Disney+, instead send them a message letting them know that you are boycotting them until they get their Linux support in order.

Tags:disney+, fedora