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! * > > >
