Re: DRM in HTML5 A Betrayal of Public Trust

On 07/06/2013 19:18, Maneesh Pangasa wrote:
> That being said abandoning proprietary plugins for the open web was
> the point behind developing HTML5. All stakeholders who design web
> apps can code/write their apps once and they'll work across all
> mobile platforms iOS, Android, Windows Mobile (Windows Phone, Windows
> RT whatever Microsoft now calls it) whereas for native apps they have
> to code separate apps for iOS, Android, Blackberry and Windows
> devices and users can benefit from the open web.

The reality, however, is that content owners currently want to have a 
modicum of "protection" for delivering their content in browser. 
Otherwise, they would simply opt to only allow their content to be 
delivered via proprietary native apps...

> No one is asking us what
> we want?

Actually, as a user myself, if I'm given the choice between

a) not being able to get content in browser because content owners don't 
fancy sending their stuff as raw MP4/WebM/etc for playback inside 
<video>, instead having to use native apps for each provider, or

b) being able to get content, although it relies on a DRM layer that 
relies on installed CDMs (much in the same way that even delivery of 
non-DRMd video in browser depends on either the OS having the correct 
video codec installed or the browser having baked-in support for it - 
with the consequences we already saw relating to MP4 and FOSS)

then, as a user, I'd go with the second option. Yes, I could also try 
and make a stand about how DRM is ineffective, how it won't combat real 
piracy, how it's incompatible with free open ideologies...but - as was 
already suggested a while ago on this subject - those discussions would 
be best served on public-html-media mailing list, not here (and only if 
they actually contribute anything new to the topic, rather than just 
being another ideological stand-off).

P
-- 
Patrick H. Lauke
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Received on Friday, 14 June 2013 07:47:32 UTC