[RockerC]

Please see the (somewhat heated) replies/answers already given regarding this questions in this other thread:

http://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=...pid2566956

@Dalej, what you and other who did not read and understand the point of this implementation is that adding DRM support to Kodi does not restrict any existing functions or features in Kodi.

Kodi will still be able to play all your existing files and streams exactly the same way as it does today, no matter if they are from a legal source or not.

That is, adding DRM support only gives users the option of also playing DRM protected streams as well if you choose, and that is not mandatory or restricting in any way at all. Adding DRM support gives legal content providers such as example Netflix the option of writing addons for Kodi and have the streams for their specific addon be protected by a DRM chain.

Adding DRM support to Kodi does not give the XBMC Foundation / Team-Kodi or content providers the ability to prevent or stop you from playing your existing local files or stream from the internet using addons from other developers.

The "R" in DRM (Digital Rights Management really do stand for "Rights", and not "Restrictions" as you might think. Having DRM support will give us the right to legally play DRM protected stream in Kodi if we want. Not having DRM support in Kodi restrict us from legally playing DRM protected stream in Kodi, even if we wanted to.


As Nathan Betzen wrote in the comments of the article on TorrentFreak:

I get the sense that a lot of people think this DRM discussion is about somehow locking down the non-drmed stuff, like people's libraries or addons that don't make use of drm. We have no interest in doing that, and even if we did, we couldn't. It's one of the many great reasons that Kodi is licensed under the GPL. Doing something like that is impossible.

Anyway, point being, the term "DRM" is a blanket that can mean "plays Netflix" and can also mean "locks down the entire application and installs malware." I'm having a hard time figuring out if the outrage is about the first of those, or a misunderstanding about the second of them.

And as I wrote in that other thread:

Netflix streaming playback without breaking DRM is a great example of what having support for OS underlying DRM could add to Kodi, as reported here:

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=ne...ix-Support
https://liliputing.com/2017/03/plugin-br...g-drm.html

You would still be able to play all your existing offline/streaming conteant and still possibly get legal access to premium subscription services. That is, we who pay for Netflix, HBO, Amazon Prime Video, etc. will get the possibilty of legally accessing streams from those services inside Kodi. All the while Kodi will act no different att all for users accessing content in whatever other ways they do today.

It's like adding a towbar to your car; you will not really notice it unless you hook up a carriage that you want to pull, and you as a user of the car don't have to use the towbar unless you actually want to pull a carriage, that is optional. Only downsides to adding a towbar to a car is that it will maybe make your car look less 'sporty' to some who currently don't care at all about the cars capability of pulling a carriage as they right now think/know that they will never ever buy a carriage.

Now don't be an asshat by complain that the next-generation of your favorite (free) car model is getting a towbar mounted by default. YOU don't have to hook up a carriage and YOU can still put whatever YOU like in its trunk and invite whever shady friends you want for a ride. Having the towbar mounted there will not restrict YOU in any way at all! The towbar will only be there to allow those like myself who want to buy or rent a carriage to hook it up to the same car model.