The Web has evolved to a comprehensive and performant technology platform and no longer depends on native code extensions through plugins.
Huh? They’re just trading one Adobe plugin (Flash) for another (Adobe’s closed-source CDM). If it’s closed source, presumably it will be just as platform-restricted as their Flash plugin. That means it won’t work on operating systems or architectures that Adobe doesn’t compile for.
So we’re back at what Adobe did all along, except this time W3C has given its “Stamp of Approval” on it.
Sadly, it’s worse. We could give up Flash, but EME is a “standard”, so unless it fails miserably and/or poses many security risks, it’s not likely to go away.
I am quite upset that DRM is now built into previously open web technologies, but I respect Mozilla’s decision to support the technology, and their efforts to do so in the least invasive and onerous way possible. They’re making the best out of a crappy situation, and of the assorted browser makers, they are the only ones.
The W3C failed us on this topic. Mozilla reaction to this is smart and pragmatic. I really hope DRM will become a thing of the past, and be replaced with fingerprinting, in the best interest of users… and content owners! But since the very beginning of the Internet, major companies in music and cinema have a track record of being incredibly stupid about technology. In the mean time, more and more people will use things like get-popcorn.com to use BitTorrent streaming without technical knowledge, and less and less people will use DRM-based systems. At this point, maybe content owners will understand their mistake and offer simpler systems based on fingerprinting.
The best thing about this whole mess is that it is literally impossible to implement DRM well on a general-purpose computer. Attempts to do so often end up providing more amusement value than actual “protection”.
Huh? They’re just trading one Adobe plugin (Flash) for another (Adobe’s closed-source CDM). If it’s closed source, presumably it will be just as platform-restricted as their Flash plugin. That means it won’t work on operating systems or architectures that Adobe doesn’t compile for.
So we’re back at what Adobe did all along, except this time W3C has given its “Stamp of Approval” on it. Sadly, it’s worse. We could give up Flash, but EME is a “standard”, so unless it fails miserably and/or poses many security risks, it’s not likely to go away.
I am quite upset that DRM is now built into previously open web technologies, but I respect Mozilla’s decision to support the technology, and their efforts to do so in the least invasive and onerous way possible. They’re making the best out of a crappy situation, and of the assorted browser makers, they are the only ones.
The W3C failed us on this topic. Mozilla reaction to this is smart and pragmatic. I really hope DRM will become a thing of the past, and be replaced with fingerprinting, in the best interest of users… and content owners! But since the very beginning of the Internet, major companies in music and cinema have a track record of being incredibly stupid about technology. In the mean time, more and more people will use things like get-popcorn.com to use BitTorrent streaming without technical knowledge, and less and less people will use DRM-based systems. At this point, maybe content owners will understand their mistake and offer simpler systems based on fingerprinting.
[Comment removed by author]
The best thing about this whole mess is that it is literally impossible to implement DRM well on a general-purpose computer. Attempts to do so often end up providing more amusement value than actual “protection”.