Saturday, 1 March 2025
Nora Deligter wrote an interesting piece for Screen Slate in June 2023 called “Elegy for the Screenshot.” In it, she talks about Catherine Pearson, a florist who started capturing screenshots of flower bouquets from the sitcom The Nanny (1993–1999) about five years ago. Catherine was drawn to the bright and beautiful arrangements while studying to become a florist. She kept these screenshots on her computer, along with ones from the British detective series Poirot (1989–2013). But one day, she discovered that her usual shortcut for taking screenshots led to a black box instead of those vibrant flowers. This change marked a frustrating moment for her creative process.
Around this time, major streaming services like Netflix, HBO Max, and Amazon Prime started blocking screenshots. At first, users found ways around it, like using the Brave browser or certain tools to capture images. However, as these platforms upgraded their digital rights management (DRM), it became much harder to take screenshots, especially on Mac computers.
For those using PCs, the situation is quite different. Microsoft’s Snipping Tool allows users to easily grab screenshots from any streaming content. This feels like an oversight by streaming services, as they seem to be prioritizing Mac users without considering the larger PC user base. Interestingly, most people interviewed for the article were PC users.
Deligter’s essay stayed on my mind, especially since I referenced it in relation to Matthew Green’s plea to Apple about adding “disappearing messages” to iMessage. The more I read, the more compelled I felt to discuss this issue.
On MacOS, taking screenshots of DRM-protected videos involves a deep interaction between the software and hardware, making it almost impossible to bypass the DRM restrictions. Meanwhile, Windows lets users easily take screenshots because its system is less integrated, which could explain the difference in treatment. The DRM blocks apply to all Apple devices, including iPhones and iPads, making the restrictions even more frustrating.
It used to be that taking a screenshot of DRM content in Safari was not an issue, but it became a problem in Chrome as well. Luckily, there’s a trick: if you go to Chrome’s settings and turn off hardware acceleration, you can screenshot everything, including DRM content. This bit of knowledge can be handy for capturing images from videos.
What puzzles me is why Apple even implemented these restrictions for hardware-accelerated video on iOS devices. It’s unlikely that anyone would try to pirate a movie one frame at a time using screenshots. This limitation doesn’t seem to protect the content in any meaningful way, but it certainly annoys users who just want to take screenshots of their favorite shows without hassle.
