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Submitted via IRC for boru
Dear Jeff, Tim, and colleagues, In 2013, EFF was disappointed to learn that the W3C had taken on the project of standardizing "Encrypted Media Extensions," an API whose sole function was to provide a first-class role for DRM within the Web browser ecosystem. By doing so, the organization offered the use of its patent pool, its staff support, and its moral authority to the idea that browsers can and should be designed to cede control over key aspects from users to remote parties.
[...] The W3C is a body that ostensibly operates on consensus. Nevertheless, as the coalition in support of a DRM compromise grew and grew — and the large corporate members continued to reject any meaningful compromise — the W3C leadership persisted in treating EME as topic that could be decided by one side of the debate. In essence, a core of EME proponents was able to impose its will on the Consortium, over the wishes of a sizeable group of objectors — and every person who uses the web. The Director decided to personally override every single objection raised by the members, articulating several benefits that EME offered over the DRM that HTML5 had made impossible.
[...] We believe they will regret that choice. Today, the W3C bequeaths an legally unauditable attack-surface to browsers used by billions of people. They give media companies the power to sue or intimidate away those who might re-purpose video for people with disabilities. They side against the archivists who are scrambling to preserve the public record of our era. The W3C process has been abused by companies that made their fortunes by upsetting the established order, and now, thanks to EME, they'll be able to ensure no one ever subjects them to the same innovative pressures.
[...] Effective today, EFF is resigning from the W3C.
Thank you,
Cory Doctorow
Advisory Committee Representative to the W3C for the Electronic Frontier Foundation
Source: https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2017/09/open-letter-w3c-director-ceo-team-and-membership
(Score: 3, Interesting) by TheGratefulNet on Tuesday September 19 2017, @04:49AM (1 child)
if I can't root my phone, I can't install good blockers.
the raw web is NASTY without blockers.
when you live behind a blocked wall (lol), life is not too bad, online. then, you go to someone else's machine and see their unblocked web experience. as you noticed, its like a quiet room vs an airport runway.
I don't know if there are good blockers for the iphone. apple locks lots of stuff down, so I'm not sure what they have, but its one reason why I never considered buying an iphone. all my android phones have been rooted and suitable blockers installed.
could you imagine if they taught this in public schools? imagine if kids were really taught about life, instead of the synthetic things they often spend time 'learning' at school. if the teachers sat down with the kids and leveled with them; told them the purpose behind advertising and how invasive it now is, when you are online. what a raw vs blocked web looks like. how to install and maintain filters and such. just imagine how cool an INFORMED society would be!
the main reason I'm using firefox is the value of the plugins and how much time I've spent refining the filters. every so often, FF breaks their plugins and that is inexcusable to me. I'm on a very old version of FF just because the value of the browser is its plugins, at this point.
"It is now safe to switch off your computer."
(Score: 3, Informative) by Sourcery42 on Tuesday September 19 2017, @04:32PM
If you ever want to block ads system wide on an android look into DNS66. I didn't want to unlock the bootloader or root my kid's phone. This works great for sanitizing the web and apps without root, and it doesn't seem to hurt performance. https://f-droid.org/packages/org.jak_linux.dns66/ [f-droid.org]