Re: Is EME usable regardless of the software/hardware I use ?

On 6/5/2013 5:57 AM, Emmanuel Revah wrote:
>
> I have a few questions and thoughts, they may appear naive, simplistic 
> or may contain comprehension errors, let me know if I misunderstood.
>
>
>
> -------------------------------------------------
> On W3C » Standards » Browsers and Authoring Tools - 
> http://www.w3.org/standards/agents/Overview.html
>
> "We should be able to publish regardless of the software we use,

I don't think that EME restricts people from publishing on the Web 
regardless of the software they use.  If they use FOSS software they can 
publish without DRM and nothing in EME prevents them from doing so.

> the computer we have, the language we speak, whether we are wired or 
> wireless, regardless of our sensory or interaction modes. We should be 
> able to access the web from any kind of hardware that can connect to 
> the Internet – stationary or mobile, small or large. W3C facilitates 
> this listening and blending via international web standards. These 
> standards ensure that all the crazy brilliance continues to improve a 
> web that is open to us all."
> -------------------------------------------------
>
> The W3 should promote specs/standards/technologies that can be used 
> regardless of the user's choice of software (for reading or writing). 
> Free/Open or proprietary, the choice the user will make should not be 
> dictated by the standards.

I'm not sure where W3C makes any statement of this form.  As I've said 
elsewhere in this discussion, it might be a good idea to add that 
policy, but I'm not aware that this is the policy today.

>
> For me this isn't about Free or non-free, indeed it's not the license 
> or source code availability that will enable/disable playback, the 
> concerns is that the user will have to install software specifically 
> provided by the website (CDMs, via the site or its partners(s)). Does 
> this go against the "regardless of the software we use" idea ?
>
>
>
> -------------------------------------------------
> Encrypted Media Extensions - http://www.w3.org/TR/encrypted-media/
>
> "This proposal extends HTMLMediaElement providing APIs to control 
> playback of protected content."
>
> [...]
>  * Support a range of content security models, including software and 
> hardware-based models
> -------------------------------------------------
>
> Will I be able to publish EME regardless of the software I use ? Or 
> reformulated, will it be technically possible for me to make any use 
> of EME to control playback of protected content, without any 
> imposition on the software required for me to implement it ? (and for 
> visitors to read it).
>
> I am trying to understand if EME is a standard designed to be usable 
> by everyone to read and write the W3C's definition of the web.
>
>
>
>
>
> Back to the first quote, regarding hardware + from the EME draft (1.1 
> Goals):
> -------------------------------------------------
> "We should be able to access the web from any kind of hardware that 
> can connect to the Internet"
>
> * Support a range of content security models, including software and 
> hardware-based models
> -------------------------------------------------
>
> I've understood from one of Mark Watson's emails to this list that 
> there could be hardware implemented DRM/CDM which would allow a user's 
> system to run only Free Software for the operating system, the 
> playback control would be part of the GPU or some other hardware. 
> (some may accept this others may not, but that's not my point). I also 
> read about TrustZone 
> http://www.arm.com/products/processors/technologies/trustzone.php 
> which is exactly that, DRM built in to hardware.
>
> I personally do not oppose companies producing products I don't wish 
> to purchase, it happens all the time. The question is:
>
> Would this mean that to access the web (the part of the web defined by 
> the W3C) I may need to have specific hardware ?  Would "any kind of 
> hardware that can connect to the Internet" no longer be true.
> Will it become possible, using EME, to limit access to the web based 
> on hardware ?
>
>
>
>
>

Received on Wednesday, 5 June 2013 10:17:35 UTC