Project DReaM
| Company type | Initiative |
|---|---|
| Industry | Digital rights management |
| Founded | August 22, 2005 |
| Founder | Sun Microsystems |
| Defunct | August 2008 |
| Fate | Discontinued and archived |
| Products | Java Stream Assembly API, DRM-OPERA, Sun Streaming Server |
| Parent | Sun Microsystems |
Project DReaM was an initiative launched by Sun Microsystems aimed at creating an open and interoperable DRM framework featuring standardized interfaces. The primary goal was to establish a royalty-free DRM industry standard. Introduced on 22 August 2005, Project DReaM began as an internal research project before being made public under Sun’s Open Media Commons program. It was distributed under the terms of the Common Development and Distribution License (CDDL). After a period of inactivity, the project was discontinued and archived in August 2008. The acronym DReaM stands for "DRM everywhere/available".
The initiative included a Java Stream Assembly API designed to facilitate digital video management and distribution, alongside DRM-OPERA, a hardware- and operating system-independent interoperable DRM standard. Additionally, the Sun Streaming Server was developed to deliver audio and video content over IP. Notable features encompassed:
- Emphasis on network identity: focusing on DRM from the standpoint of network identity management rather than individual devices.
- Ensured interoperability: comprehensive specification of all components to support diverse, vendor-neutral implementations.
- Transparency in security: employing an open architecture instead of relying on closed-source solutions.
- Royalty-free architecture: allowing developers to bypass expensive licensing charges.
Project DReaM mandated that software must be signed and executed on trusted computing hardware, which blocked unauthorized or unsigned code from running. This requirement attracted criticism from journalist Cory Doctorow, who referred to it as crippleware. On the other hand, in 2008, Mike Linksvayer commended the project for its support of fair use and content licensed under Creative Commons.