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posted by on Wednesday March 22 2017, @12:57PM   Printer-friendly
from the the-man-knows-what-you're-watching dept.

Encrypted Media Extensions (EME), a mechanism by which HTML5 video providers can discover and enable DRM providers offered by a browser, has taken the next step on its contentious road to standardization. The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), the standards body that oversees most Web-related specifications, has moved the EME specification to the Proposed Recommendation stage.

The next and final stage is for the W3C's Advisory Committee to review the proposal. If it passes review, the proposal will be blessed as a full W3C Recommendation.

Ever since W3C decided to start working on a DRM proposal, there have been complaints from those who oppose DRM on principle. The work has continued regardless, with W3C director and HTML inventor Tim Berners-Lee arguing that—given that DRM is already extant and, at least for video, unlikely to disappear any time soon—it's better for DRM-protected content to be a part of the Web ecosystem than to be separate from it.

Berners-Lee argued that, for almost all video providers, the alternative to DRM in the browser is DRM in a standalone application. He also argued that these standalone applications represent a greater risk to privacy and security than the constrained, sandboxed environment of the Web. He acknowledges that DRM has problems, chiefly the difficulties it imposes for fair use, derivative works, and backups. He notes, however, that a large body of consumers don't appear overly concerned with these issues, as they continue to buy or subscribe to DRM-protected content.

-- submitted from IRC


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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Pino P on Wednesday March 22 2017, @03:34PM (1 child)

    by Pino P (4721) on Wednesday March 22 2017, @03:34PM (#482773) Journal

    If you practice option four ("Stop supporting it and do not allow plugins in your browser that do support it") alone, you will be considered acceptable collateral damage. The only way for option four to make a noticeable difference is to encourage others to follow you in doing so, which turns it into option three ("Get enough people to completely and vocally boycott DRM").

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  • (Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Thursday March 23 2017, @10:14AM

    by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Thursday March 23 2017, @10:14AM (#483151) Homepage Journal

    I was speaking from the point of a browser coder not an end user. It would only take three browser makers blocking any plugins with DRM and there would be no more DRM on the web.

    --
    My rights don't end where your fear begins.