this post was submitted on 25 Apr 2026
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DRM

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A community for the discussion of topics surrounding DRM, Digital Rights Management.

All media that DRM can be applied on can be discussed here, for example books, movies, music or games.

Digital rights management (DRM) is the management of legal access to digital content. Various tools or technological protection measures, such as access control technologies, can restrict the use of proprietary hardware and copyrighted works. DRM technologies govern the use, modification and distribution of copyrighted works (e.g. software, multimedia content) and of systems that enforce these policies within devices. DRM technologies include licensing agreements and encryption.

Wikipedia

Guides and useful tools

Quick and dirty way to rip an eBook from Android

2025 Guide for freeing books from Amazon (after D&T was removed)

Guide to Removing DRM From Amazon Kindle E-Books

Liberate your Kindle books before leaving Amazon (Tutorial)

How to setup Calibre to remove DRM from ebooks on Linux/Archive mirror

Guide on removing DRM from Kobo & Kindle eBooks (reddit mirror, Archive link)

Extracting content from an LCP "protected" ePub

DeDRM tools for eBooks: a plugin for Calibre for removing Adobe DRM, Obok etc.

Calibre eBook Management

Miscellaneous links

DRM - Frequently Asked Questions by DefectiveByDesign

Guide to DRM-Free Living by DefectiveByDesign

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Hugely terrible DRM has now been rolled out to all PS4 and PS5 digital games. Every digital game you buy now requires an online check-in every 30 days. If you buy a digital game and don't connect your console to the internet for 30 days, your license will be removed.

Source [2026-04-25; +image]

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You wouldn't "lose" it, the licence would be restored after connecting to internet... provided Sony's servers are still functioning when you do...

Source [2026-04-25]

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...Trophies on PS4 require the internal system clock (the one you can’t see / alter) to be correct, so people cant change their PS4 date/time to make it look like they got trophies earlier than they really did. If your PS4 clock battery dies, all your games die

Source [2021-03-23]

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Newly purchased PS4 games now have 30 day valid license timer.
Most likely introduced in March 2026 firmware.
Could be a bug similar to an incident from 2022.
PS5 is affected too, but only shows an error when starting a game.

Source [2026-04-25]

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Update x2: not a bug - PlayStation just quietly confirmed it’s intentional.
Any digital game you buy after the march 2026 update now requires you to go online at least once every 30 days or it won’t even launch.

Source [2026-04-28]


[Image] Official PlayStation Support Response [2026-04-28]
Source: https://xcancel.com/SmashJT/status/2048887546323808258#m

[Image] "Don't Starve Together" (PlayStation)

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What kind of idiot would spend money on this shit?

[–] sepiroth154@feddit.nl 2 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Thanks for the heads up! Will now be buying different platform or physical from now on!

[–] Auster@thebrainbin.org 4 points 5 months ago

Some examples come to mind:

There's an aptly named "DRM" folder within each single PS Vita cartridge. Also, dumping any games in the console, including physical ones, requires launching it at least once so a plugin can generate a dummy license validator, but that means the game needs to be validated first (account/internet not required for cartridges but the technology is already halfway there).

Blurays need to be validated with keys that are constantly monitored, updated and when leaks are identified, revoked.

Windows Live.

Physical discs of Final Fantasy XI on the PS2 and Final Fantasy XIV on the PS3. Both have data in them, but good luck accessing them.


While physical can be a good starting point with the current state of right of ownership, physical doesn't mean DRM-free, right to repair, owning, etc., so beware of taking it for granted.