Content protection in HTML5 TV platforms: Towards browser-agnostic DRM and cloud UI environments

The integration of DRM into browser environments resulted in a huge disruption on how DRM systems work. W3C has specified a direct integration of DRM into a browser over HTML5 Encrypted Media Extensions (EME) interface. Desktop browsers like Chrome, Firefox and Internet Explorer already support the EME standard but are limited to one single DRM. As a result browser manufactures are dictating the DRM system to be used. This paper presents an open architecture and its implementation for decoupling of DRM from the browser environment. This enables the exchange of DRM schemes and therefore possible integrations of multiple DRM. Our work introduces a non-proprietary and an open source reference implementation of the EME interface and its extension. Furthermore, we define a target architecture for the EME adaptation for a browser running in the cloud or a so-called cloud-based user interface. Finally, we discuss security challenges of these approaches and open issues on the way of their implementation.