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

On 2013/06/05 11:57, 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, 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.
> 
> 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 ?



After reading the replies here I conclude that yes, EME is 100% usable 
regardless of the software/hardware I use. That said, EME has zero 
functionality without CDM.


If CDM was part of the specification, open or not, it would go against 
the following statement:

"We should be able to access the web from any kind of hardware that can 
connect to the Internet"
Found here:
W3C » Standards » Browsers and Authoring Tools - 
http://www.w3.org/standards/agents/Overview.html


Even with an Open Source and/or a Free Software CDM the user would still 
be obliged to install software imposed by the publisher to the user as a 
condition for accessing their part of the open web.

However the above statement, from what I understood, is not W3 policy, 
even though it is from the W3 website.


I wont post any personal conclusion/interpretation here, I just wanted 
to answer my initial questions with simple, hopefully factual, answers. 
Feel free to correct me.




-- 
Emmanuel Revah
http://manurevah.com

Received on Friday, 7 June 2013 13:03:52 UTC