Re: Encrypted Media proposal (was RE: ISSUE-179: av_param - Chairs Solicit Alternate Proposals or Counter-Proposals)

On Mon, Mar 5, 2012 at 8:05 AM, John Simmons <johnsim@microsoft.com> wrote:
> From: hsivonen@gmail.com [mailto:hsivonen@gmail.com]
>> On Fri, Mar 2, 2012 at 10:17 PM, Mark Watson <watsonm@netflix.com>
>> wrote:
>>> On Mar 2, 2012, at 10:59 AM, Tab Atkins Jr. wrote:
>>>
>>>> No.  Again, a working CDM is *required* for this API to be of any use.
>>>> If implementing a working CDM is troublesome or impossible for
>>>> various reasons, that makes the API itself useless.
>>>
>>> The clearkey keysystem was intended to provide a simple baseline. A
>>> working clearkey CDM would be easy to implement, requiring no trade
>>> secrets or closed source obscurity (Usual IANAL disclaimer about IPR).
>>
>> The clearkey keysystem baseline is entirely irrelevant if Netflix won't
>> target Hollywood content to it. OTOH, if Netflix will target Hollywood
>> content to it, we should only spec clearkey and not bother with other
>> CDMs.
>>
>
> This is not a proposal to enable Netflix. This is a proposal to enable interoperable commercial video delivery, meeting the requirements of that industry, and that interoperability depends upon standards.

Netflix is one of those, and I believe it's the largest movie
streaming service in the world.  If Netflix isn't willing to use
ClearKey, then it's pretty much dead immediately.  As well, if they're
not willing to use it, why do you think that other companies in the
industry will be willing to?


> The consequences of not supporting this type of proposal will not be that the commercial video industry abandons DRM or adopts clearkey. The consequence will be that they continue to use native applications and plug-ins to support the level of content and service protection that they require. IMO this would be a disservice to the countless people who want to be consumers of those video services.

The status quo seems to work fine for now.  It's inconvenient
sometimes, but shrug.

As argued multiple times, it would be a disservice to the web platform
as a whole to bake closed-source royalty-encumbered technology into
HTML.

~TJ

Received on Monday, 5 March 2012 16:57:31 UTC