Re: What change could we make? (was Re: Letter on DRM in HTML)

On Jun 22, 2013, at 3:29 PM, Nikos Roussos
<comzeradd@mozilla-community.org> wrote:

>
>
> Mark Watson <watsonm@netflix.com> wrote:
>> Sent from my iPhone
>>
>> On Jun 21, 2013, at 7:35 AM, Nikos Roussos
>> <comzeradd@mozilla-community.org> wrote:
>>
>>> On Fri, 2013-06-21 at 02:42 -0400, Tim Berners-Lee wrote:
>>>> Nikos's statement "... EME [...] contradicts with Open Web
>> principles"
>>>> is rousing but doesn't say which principles those are nor
>>>> how they are necessarily contradicted.
>>>>
>>>> One principle of the open web is "anyone can publish",
>>>> Can we design an EME system where that is true, and anyone can
>>>> publish content using it?
>>>
>>> Also "anyone can consume", regardless of "their hardware, software,
>>> network infrastructure (...)"
>>>
>>> So for start that's one principle of Open Web (and W3's own mission)
>>> that EME is contradicting, since it seems that it will require users
>> to
>>> trust binary blobs from content providers in order to be functional.
>>>
>>> Another principle that DRM contradicts is that it disregards consumer
>>> rights. Quoting Norbert Bollow from a previous email: "rights that
>>> people have as a matter of law as soon as they have legal access to a
>>> digital good"
>>
>> I am not a lawyer, so I am wary of stepping into an area in which I do
>> not have expertise, but just as a personal opinion and as a matter of
>> logic it seems the situation cannot be as black-and-white legally as
>> stated above. If so, there would surely be numerous legal challenges
>> to the widespread use of DRM. If it is indeed a 'right ... as a matter
>> of law' there should be cases upholding that right and striking down
>> the use of DRM. That's not to say there is no public interest in the
>> effectiveness of limitations on copyright, just that it is a balance
>> not a black-and-white thing. Did I miss something ? Or, are you
>> arguing that you believe this is clear, legally, but there isn't a
>> complete legal consensus on that ?
>
> Additionally to what others already mentioned,  you could check the
> "Concerns from the European Parliament" thread, regarding legal issues
> and user rights possible undermined by EME.

Those concerns were from an MEP whose platform includes significant
changes to copyright. That's fine: the democratic process is the right
way to push for such changes. As she says, it is not W3C's role to
pre-empt that process. So, we should work with laws as they are today
and, as Norbert clarified, they are not black-and-white as stated
above (at least in Switzerland).

...Mark

>

Received on Sunday, 23 June 2013 00:15:48 UTC