One of the biggest problems is piracy, which forces increasingly complex control systems increasingly complex, but DRM hardware will come hand in hand with a paradigm shift in the way operating systems are distributed, which means a paradigm shift in the business model, which requires this type of hardware in our PCs.
The methods that prevent the execution of certain content and software on our PCs are known as DRM, the most famous is HDCP, which prevents certain content from being displayed on a system that does not have the appropriate DRM chip on its HDMI interface. , but you can develop DRM systems that prevent the execution of certain applications and operating systems. but how do they get it?
DRM hardware to shield users to a specific platform
One of the most important changes in recent years is the distribution of software, which has gone from being found in stores to being distributed over the internet. But, especially this change in distribution has generated a new business model based on the following premises:
- The operating system is no longer a product, but comes as an integral part of the system.
- Distribution is now controlled by the owner of the platform.
- The owner of the platform earns money through a fixed royalty or in the form of a percentage that is applied to each software distributed by it.
As is obvious, the owner of the platform is not interested in the end user of the same being able to use other methods to obtain the software, so he has to add control measures that the user himself cannot bypass, being the best way implement them through hardware in the form of special chips.
How do digital systems control systems work?
The software that is distributed through digital stores in a part of the code have a key that we can call “seal”. When a hardware platform has a digital rights control system that ties the software to a specific store, what is necessary is that there is hardware that what it does is to check if what said user has installed has said “seal” or no.
The DRM chip is therefore located between the I / O and the RAM of the system, since the data will be copied from the SSD or the hard disk, which is currently in the I / O, to the RAM. Each emission of data packets and instructions from the application or the operating system that is running is checked by the DRM chip, which if it does not find the seal simply does not allow the program to be copied to RAM and therefore prevents its execution by the CPU.
Thanks to this system, it is prevented not only the execution of certain unsigned programs that have not been distributed through the manufacturer’s online store, but also the installation of alternative and free operating systems such as the GNU / Linux.
DRM chips on PCs today in the near future
The clearest example is Apple‘s T2 chip included as standard in some of its Intel Macs, said chip was designed so that only software and content approved by Apple can run on a Mac, however it is not perfect and hackers they have managed through a lot of effort to be able to bypass the restrictions even to cancel said DRM chip.
But the recent news that most affects the PC world is the so-called Pluton, a DRM chip designed between Microsoft and AMD that will allow the deployment of PCs based on Microsoft’s universal platform. Something that Redmond has been pursuing for years and that may mean the end not only of being able to distribute Linux but also the appearance of Microsoft PCs in which it is only possible to install software that is sealed from Microsoft’s own store.
Pluton is the same processor that prevents in an Xbox Series X and an Xbox Series X that we can install Windows and turn both consoles into a PC. And although we are facing an AMD design for Microsoft, it is very likely that we will see it being used by Intel in the short term. So if one of these days you find that you cannot install Linux on your PC, it is possible that there is a part in the same processor that prevents you from doing so.
Microsoft’s idea with Pluton is to adopt the business model of Google and Apple where the operating system is given away and money is earned with royalties through each application, but for this it needs to deploy control hardware on the computers that carry its operating system , which will be offered free to all assemblers, instead of using an associated license.
Why can DRM be implemented legally?
In the 1980s, the piracy of Nintendo‘s Famicom console was so great that the Japanese video game company added to the western version of the console a chip called 10NES, which communicated with its twin on each console. While the 10NES had a code that sent continuously through additional pins, the console had the chip with the opposite value, which gave a sum with a zero result and while that lasted the console worked but when only 1 entered stopped.
There were companies that reverse engineered and managed to duplicate the chip, which ended with legal litigation that Nintendo ended up winning and with this the precedent was signed that the owner of a platform has all the freedom to control the distribution of the software for it.
On PC this has not been applied, but on smartphones where in general we cannot use any store except the manufacturer’s, and although there are cases like Google’s that allow the use of third-party stores. But Google can grab that precedent at any time to block third-party stores on Android.
Other methods of controlling the use of our PCs
Like it or not, all our PCs are monitored, since a good part of the operating system services connect the computer over the Internet. Have you installed a new peripheral? Know that your PC needs to connect to the network to search for lps drivers. A new update to your programs? The same happens.
What many people ignore is that our PC has an identification number, which depends on the processor and is one of the three parts, the other part is the ID of the operating system and the program. And yes, the different software manufacturers know very well and remotely who uses pirted software and who does not, but those who have access to the administration of your PC through DRM chips are the owners of a platform.
Thus, DRM chips not only allow them to prevent the use of certain unsealed programs but also to remotely remove already installed programs and even add censorship and usage monitoring systems. Unfortunately these DRM processors are not found on the board separately, they are a very small part within the main SoC.
And what about old software?
We think a bit, software manufacturers do not want a user, whatever it is, is always using the same version of their application for years. Until now there is fear in the PC world of breaking backward compatibility and so far Microsoft’s attempts to launch its universal Windows platform have ended in failure.
The reason for the failure is very simple, the user’s ability to choose, something that Microsoft seeing what Apple has achieved and especially because of what happens in the world of consoles, has decided to cancel for the future with the development of Pluton. .
The next version of Windows may require a PC with a hardware DRM system that prevents the installation of both previous versions of the operating system and others, as well as older software that is not signed for use with the new DRM chip. Obviously developers can create upgrade versions for existing software to work with the new DRM chip and distribute them however they want in the new paradigm.
What about other online stores?
Damage to other online stores may end in legal litigation against Microsoft if this ends up happening, unless Microsoft itself reaches an agreement with them for their inclusion in future Windows installations. Which is extremely important for gaming where there are libraries of dozens and even hundreds of games associated with the Epic Store and Steam for example.
The only way that the transition to a purely DRM system does not collapse from the beginning is to allow the gaming market to have no problems when using its games. Actually both Steam and the Epic Store are associated with software DRM, which means that it is only necessary to adapt the DRM control of the online store and its software platform to make all games compatible.
The problem is that this would force the re-installation of all games again, since all references to the old software DRM system will have to be replaced by references to the new hardware DRM system. This will not only disable pirted copies in the form of repacks but also those games that cannot be updated by the developer.