RE: CfC: to publish Encrypted Media Extensions specification as a First Public Working Draft (FPWD)

-1

I object on the basis that the proposal supports limiting user control over their own User Agent which leads to a loss of control of security and privacy.  Further, by integrating DRM into the User Agent platform the tradeoffs involved for users will be trivialized and users are quite likely to make uninformed decisions.

I accept that some users might wish to make an informed decision to trade off their control in order to meet the terms of some content owners, and I would not presume to dictate what they can do, but I believe they could just as well use separate software and/or hardware and that most users would accept an appeal to do so rather than tainting the User Agent platform for all users.

If it is accepted that web standards should support DRM then it would also be logical to put the entire UA within the DRM controlled black box as many web content authors would presumably like the same level or DRM.  This path would prevent users being able to control their privacy and the security on their own computer which is contrary to the charter of the W3C Public User Agent Community Group.

Even the monitoring that can be used by DRM is privacy concern.  I would imagine that even free content would be attracted to taking advantage of the DRM support to monitor usage and this could lead to a big loss of privacy on the web.

Having the DRM channel pass through the UA might taint the UA and make some user control over the UA subject to legal sanctions in some jurisdictions.

cheers
Fred

Chair, PUG CG

> From: Paul.Cotton@microsoft.com
> To: public-html-admin@w3.org
> CC: ddorwin@google.com; adrianba@microsoft.com; watsonm@netflix.com
> Date: Tue, 22 Jan 2013 18:03:25 +0000
> Subject: CfC: to publish Encrypted Media Extensions specification as a First   Public Working Draft (FPWD)
> 
> This is a Call for Consensus (CfC) to publish as a First Public Working Draft (FPWD) the following Encrypted Media Extensions document:
> 
> https://dvcs.w3.org/hg/html-media/raw-file/tip/encrypted-media/encrypted-media-fpwd.html 
> 
> Silence will be taken to mean there is no objection, but positive responses are encouraged. If there are no objections by Wednesday January 30, this resolution will carry.
> 
> Considerations to note:
> 
> - As a First Public Working Draft, this publication will trigger patent policy review.
> 
> - As a Working Draft publication, the document does not need not be complete, to meet all technical requirements, or to have consensus on the contents.
> 
> /paulc
> HTML WG co-chair
> 
> Paul Cotton, Microsoft Canada
> 17 Eleanor Drive, Ottawa, Ontario K2E 6A3
> Tel: (425) 705-9596 Fax: (425) 936-7329
> 
> 
>