[apis] requirement for offline content protection

Hello,

During the Media APIs TF meeting this week, we discussed the use case "Download and Go":
http://www.w3.org/2011/webtv/wiki/Media_APIs/Use_Cases#8._.22Use_Case_Eight_.E2.80.93_Download_and_Go.22

It was suggested that a derived requirement should be one of content protection, and in particular offline content protection, which is different from the requirement already considered by the Home Networking Task Force, and accepted as in scope by the HTML WG.

For reference, the wording of the requirement in HNReq is as follows:
«Conforming specifications should support the content protection mechanism for a content item used by a content server in order to play back that content item. Conforming specifications must provide a graceful failure model when a content protection mechanism is not supported.»
http://www.w3.org/TR/hnreq/#content-protection

In order to cater for offline use of media in web applications, the requirement could be amended as follows:
« Conforming specifications SHOULD support the content protection mechanism for playback of audio/visual content used in a web application. The content protection mechanism MAY be different depending on whether the content is served or streamed by a server, or downloaded by the application for future offline playback. Conforming specifications MUST provide a graceful failure model when a content protection mechanism is not supported.»

I must note that while the requirement for content protection has been accepted by the HTML working group as being in scope, the requirement has been the subject of significant push back from several parts of the web community, notably on the grounds that no reliable content protection mechanism can be implemented in open source software. I suspect the objection will be even stronger when applied to the application of offline content protection. The IG may want to pore over discussions on the W3C restricted media community group before publishing this requirement.


This should complete ACTION-122: Outline a requirement for offline content protection requirement based on UC8 and UC9

--
Olivier


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Received on Friday, 26 July 2013 14:35:48 UTC