[1] Its primary goal was the creation of a royalty-free digital rights management industry standard.
Project DReaM included of a Java Stream Assembly API[4] to support digital video management and distribution,[5] a hardware- and operating system-independent interoperable DRM standard called DRM-OPERA,[6] and the Sun Streaming Server to stream video and audio over IP.
[4] The key characteristics of Project DReaM were as follows:[7] Project DReaM technology required the software code to be signed and run on trusted computing hardware, on which unauthorized or unsigned code cannot be run.
This approach was criticized by journalist Cory Doctorow, who characterized Project DReaM as crippleware.
[9] Project DReaM was favorably mentioned by Mike Linksvayer in a 2008 article discussing its support for fair use and Creative Commons-licensed content.