3 ms·

Nope, the movie studios are the companies to which DRM is most beneficial. Netflix just happens to currently be the biggest distributor. Let's do a little thou

by cheald 13y ago

Nope, the movie studios are the companies to which DRM is most beneficial. Netflix just happens to currently be the biggest distributor. Let's do a little thought experiment: Let's say #CancelNetflix goes massively huge and Netflix goes out of business next week. Do you think that's actually going to keep DRM off the web? (The studios would be ecstatic at this outcome.)

zobzu 13y ago
yes actually, it would - without any really working online distribution system, no amount of money can force W3C to implement DRMs since there is point. but that would also keep netflix off the web/tv, which is what, I presume, you and many do not want to see happening (since obviously, if they disappear, getting content is even harder than it is now)
- cheald 13y ago
  HTML5 DRM is already in wide distribution via Widevine, which is used by Google Play in addition to YouTube, Netflix, Blockbuster, and Vudu. It's embedded in millions of devices and distributed to millions of client desktops. The W3C's ratification or rejection of the technology isn't going to stop its spread, or the desire that consumers have for streaming video. Netflix disappearing would be inconvenient for consumers, but the vacuum left by them would be rapidly filled by a competitor happy to acquiesce to the studios' DRM demands in order to get their replacement product to market the fastest. Widevine is owned by Google. Google also owns the biggest mobile platform and the biggest desktop browser, and is making a strong push into owning the living room through devices like the Chromecast, as well. I will happily argue that the W3C's acceptance of HTML5 DRM (or Netflix's work towards developing a workable spec) is utterly irrelevant to its inevitable deployment across the connected internet. The HTML5 spec is about allowing for pluggable CDMs. It failing isn't going to stop the actual deployment of CDMs and their enabling of DRM-protected content on the internet. The CDMs already exist, are already deployed, and aren't going away. We can either have a unified way to use them, or we can just continue to slog on through a bunch of crappy solutions like we've been doing for the last decade, but they just aren't going away, period. Making Netflix out to be the bad guy here is naive at best, and malicious at worst.

by cheald 13y ago

zobzu 13y ago

yes actually, it would - without any really working online distribution system, no amount of money can force W3C to implement DRMs since there is point. but that would also keep netflix off the web/tv, which is what, I presume, you and many do not want to see happening (since obviously, if they disappear, getting content is even harder than it is now)

cheald 13y ago
HTML5 DRM is already in wide distribution via Widevine, which is used by Google Play in addition to YouTube, Netflix, Blockbuster, and Vudu. It's embedded in millions of devices and distributed to millions of client desktops. The W3C's ratification or rejection of the technology isn't going to stop its spread, or the desire that consumers have for streaming video. Netflix disappearing would be inconvenient for consumers, but the vacuum left by them would be rapidly filled by a competitor happy to acquiesce to the studios' DRM demands in order to get their replacement product to market the fastest. Widevine is owned by Google. Google also owns the biggest mobile platform and the biggest desktop browser, and is making a strong push into owning the living room through devices like the Chromecast, as well. I will happily argue that the W3C's acceptance of HTML5 DRM (or Netflix's work towards developing a workable spec) is utterly irrelevant to its inevitable deployment across the connected internet. The HTML5 spec is about allowing for pluggable CDMs. It failing isn't going to stop the actual deployment of CDMs and their enabling of DRM-protected content on the internet. The CDMs already exist, are already deployed, and aren't going away. We can either have a unified way to use them, or we can just continue to slog on through a bunch of crappy solutions like we've been doing for the last decade, but they just aren't going away, period. Making Netflix out to be the bad guy here is naive at best, and malicious at worst.