Comments on: More on DRM in HTML5

By: Kevin Krammer

Kevin Krammer — Sun, 09 Jun 2013 13:23:33 +0000

Just in case John still reads follow up comments here, I’d like to ask if he could clarify something that looks like a contradiction between two of his comments.

On January 30th he wrote ” It’s not assumed or required that CDMs will be plugins of any kind.” and “This spec neither mandates nor expects a plugin…”

On April 16th he wrote “HOWEVER, with the implementation of EME, *all* browsers can interact with the Widevine system using a common API.”

From my point of view the latter can’t be true if the former is. If Google implements Widevine as part of, say, Chrome, which according to the earlier comment would be an allowed choice, how would any other browser, say Internet Explorer or Firefox, access Widevine?

Has the specification been changed between January and April that made the older comment no longer applicable?

By: oiaohm

oiaohm — Sun, 09 Jun 2013 07:47:35 +0000

I already have the case of being forced to use Chrome under Linux to access particular sites because an extention called flash does not support anything other than Chrome fully.

From my point of view plugins should die.

By: Michael Grey

Michael Grey — Fri, 07 Jun 2013 12:10:42 +0000

Yeah, I’m sorry Bruce. I just get really angry at the “lesser of two evils” arguments. I apologize to everyone else as well. Even JF. It was foolish to let such a thing get to me as much as it did. I still happen to think that integrating this into the specs is a bad idea. EME and DRM are the same thing in my mind. Encrypted media extensions vs. digital rights management. Who amongst us can look at those two phrases side by side and not think they are the same thing? There are good uses to encryption, I can’t argue that. Honestly, who here thinks that this isn’t going to be used as a way to make more money for those that have more than they already need or could want? Fine, encrypt your content but stop taking an open spec and manipulating it towards closed. Same thing has happened with governmental power. All of a sudden it’s ok to kill without trial if you are deemed a terrorist. Everyone looks away and yet the action is still illegal but no one that can, will prosecute and no one that wants to can. This is about money and power and no one that would use this isn’t already both in my mind.

By: sil

sil — Fri, 07 Jun 2013 09:28:41 +0000

I started writing a further response but it got really long, so I made it be a post

http://kryogenix.org/days/2013/06/06/the-thing-and-the-whole-of-the-thing-on-drm-in-html

By: bruce

bruce — Thu, 06 Jun 2013 22:09:21 +0000

@Michael Grey

you said

“I’ll fight you physically if this helps you feel better about your position. I won’t apologize for that!!!!!”

- you’re being stupid when you say that. Please, speak civilly. Your points are not enhanced or emphasised by this kind of silliness.

Bruce

By: Michael Grey

Michael Grey — Thu, 06 Jun 2013 18:08:29 +0000

I’m not against free market, I’m against hijacking whatever you like to turn it into that to your profit. The internet wasn’t invented as a “for profit” system and yet it was hijacked by those that want to use it as such. So was programming and programs. See BG’s comments on such. I have no problem with this. What I do have a problem with, as a user before this happened, is that those with money can and do manipulate the standards so that they and no one else can participate. Have you looked up how much it costs to be a member of the W3C?

If you don’t want your property being stolen, don’t digitize it. Plain and simple that. No algorithm will ever stop a determined individual. If it can be written, it can be cracked. Stop trying to say that it’s the fault of everyone else that your “property” is being stolen. You put it out there, your bad. My path is chosen and I choose to fight on the side of the fork. When and if it happens, I’ll be there. I hope that it has a non-commercial license.

I am a law-abiding netizen and my “FLASH AND SILVERLIGHT” experience has been nothing but enjoyable as I have used GNU/Linux since the year of its inception. As Bruce has so eloquently pointed out, we are and have been left out in the cold with these solutions. Silverlight doesn’t work at all for me and flash is an abysmal concept. Both of them are actually. What do you have out there that requires a DRM solution might I ask? A tutorial on CSS that requires a subscription? No thanks. I will give away my code for free and I hope that it puts a thorn in the side of everyone that charges to obfusticate the learned. This is how it was intended and this is how I roll. MIT license for a reset CSS, are you kidding me?

Evolved is a pretentious word for something that has been so clearly bought. I may be a cretin but I will back up my trollism Tolkein style as I have put it so very clearly. [sic] that! Your opinion matters just as much as mine but I will never back down from the core matter of the fact that big money has, does, and will write the standards to benefit themselves and you or I don’t matter in this regard. The masses didn’t want this, money does. Ask someone that has no idea what HTML5, CSS3 or WHATWG is. Ask them if they like the fact that Netflix has no good movies anymore just because they think they don’t make enough. I predict Netflix will go out of business “bubble style” due to the fact that they can’t please the shareholders. Know why? People leave when they can’t see what they want regardless of the encryption. I’m a Netflix subscriber and I hate that I have to wait for a DVD. Where is the on demand? Where is the content that I can pay for? It used to be at Blockbuster but where is it now smart man? Lack of DRM? I can’t even rent a DVD now except Red Box, hmmm.

So am I.