Re: CfC: Create Media Task Force

On Apr 17, 2012, at 9:01 PM, Robert O'Callahan wrote:

On Tue, Apr 17, 2012 at 3:40 AM, Mark Watson <watsonm@netflix.com<mailto:watsonm@netflix.com>> wrote:
I actually had in mind that the requirement apply for something suitable for commercial services, like Netflix, since the proposal is intended to enable those.

How to formulate it as a formal condition is tricky, though. If we were able to do that, would that be sufficient to address your concern ?

It'd be progress, but the details matter.

Why can't all CDMs be specified/documented?

I suppose Microsoft/Google/Apple could answer for why they have not or will not publish the PlayReady/Widevine/Fairplay specifications.

My guess is that there is not much practical advantage in doing so. A third party wishing to duplicate one of those technologies - if they were public - has a lot more to do beside just implementing the spec if they want their implementation to have the same properties as the 'originals'. At least as I understand it, those products come with various guarantees* around robustness and intellectual property without which the product is useless. They also come with some key management services upon which some of the robustness guarantees rely. Duplicating those services and guarantees is a business in itself and anyone wishing to enter that business might not find it substantially easier to do so using one of the above technologies compared with creating their own.

I think asking browser manufacturers to become DRM vendors is something we want to avoid. We want to ensure that those existing technologies can be easily integrated with browsers of all kinds.

…Mark


* "guarantees" may not be the legally correct word - IANAL :-)


Rob
--
“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. ... If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others?" [Matthew 5:43-47]