Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by mattie_p on Tuesday February 18 2014, @02:30AM   Printer-friendly
from the if-you-can't-beat-'em dept.

An anonymous coward writes:

"In March, 2013 Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web, proposed adopting DRM into the HTML standard, under the name Encrypted Media Extensions (EME). Writing in October 2013, he said that "none of us as users like certain forms of content protection such as DRM at all," but cites the argument that "if content protection of some kind has to be used for videos, it is better for it to be discussed in the open at W3C" as a reason for considering the inclusion of DRM in HTML.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation has objected, saying in May of last year that the plan 'defines a new "black box" for the entertainment industry, fenced off from control by the browser and end-user'. Later, they pointed out that if DRM is OK for video content, that same principle would open the door to font, web applications, and other data being locked away from users.

public-restrictedmedia, the mailing list where the issue is being debated, has seen discussion about forking HTML and establishing a new standard outside of the W3C."

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by EventH0rizon on Tuesday February 18 2014, @03:28AM

    by EventH0rizon (936) on Tuesday February 18 2014, @03:28AM (#1355) Journal

    Well put.

    I want my creative output free when I want it be free, and I want some remuneration when I think it's deserving.

    The limiting factor as I see it is the more or less fixed cost of the major physical assets in your life, and chief among those are rent and/or mortgage.

    If *those* costs started shrinking I'd be more sanguine about making everything free.

    Jaron Lanier's You are not a Gadget [slate.com] has really got me thinking more and more about my previously unconditional and reflexive support for making all content free all the time. Some of what he says annoys the hell out of me, but I find other parts very challenging.

    My 2c.
     

    Starting Score:    1  point
    Moderation   +2  
       Interesting=2, Total=2
    Extra 'Interesting' Modifier   0  

    Total Score:   3  
  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by clone141166 on Tuesday February 18 2014, @04:16AM

    by clone141166 (59) on Tuesday February 18 2014, @04:16AM (#1392)

    I think you might be forking the issue a bit, the question this article raises isn't really "should content be free or not?", but rather "should paid content be restricted by DRM?". I have no problem personally with content creators charging for their work (although I think the best work is done by people who truly believe in what they are doing, which tends to favour open, community-based projects rather than corporate-based works).

    But I think the biggest barrier to making a profit from paid content is still the lack of competitive services to rival what piracy-based options provide. I know it sounds odd to say, but content creators should view "piracy" as a competitor/market force. How do you compete with a service that provides the same product for free? The same way you would compete with a corporate competitor who is able to drastically undercut your prices; provide a better service where you can and lower your prices as much as possible. I cite Steam as a working example of this. While game piracy still exists, Steam's lower prices and integrated benefits (friends list, chat, screenshots, community hubs, etc.) make it more beneficial to just pay for the game on Steam than muck around trying to pirate it.

    I think a lot of big corporations have had so much power for so long that they have forgotten what real competition even is. As for smaller content creators, yes it is tough to earn a living these days. But keep in mind that technological advances have made it much, much easier for people to become content creators - if there are more of them per % of the population doesn't mean ALL of them are still entitled to be profitable. Ultimately supply and demand drives what people consider to be a "fair price" for content. Even if you eliminated all piracy tomorrow, small time creators might STILL not see any significant increase in profits.