4 ms·

This is incredibly shameful. It's now only a matter of time before images, CSS, JavaScript, hell, even the text, are delivered through OS-specific, locked down

by gergles 12y ago

This is incredibly shameful. It's now only a matter of time before images, CSS, JavaScript, hell, even the text, are delivered through OS-specific, locked down CDMs. It will start with pissant sites nobody cares about (like the ones who are currently fighting AdBlock), but eventually a large site will demand it - most users will be using a device that handles this, and we will literally never have the Open Web ever again. (If you can't imagine how this would be done, go look at a restaurant website without Flash. Replace Flash with a gigantic EME-required media element. It's closer than you'd think.) I get that slippery slope arguments are often problematic, but DRM has always been something where we've slid down as much as is allowable as soon as it is allowable. The broadcast flag, Macrovision on DVDs, SCMS, Cinavia, etc. are just a few examples of this. Highly recommended reading is also this post, which discusses how Mozilla will implement EME: https://hacks.mozilla.org/2014/05/reconciling-mozillas-mission-and-w3c-eme/ https://hacks.mozilla.org/2014/05/reconciling-mozillas-missi... I also don't feel the 'open source sandbox' will be permissible by most developers of CDMs. My opinion is that mozilla will waste countless cycles implementing EME that won't be acceptable to the content mafia. Adobe is not the only player in this space.

secstate 12y ago
I think the bigger issue is how little the vast majority of technology users understand these issues. To them, so what if the movie studio wants to limit what people can do with a copy of their movie. "We've got streaming movies from major studios, yay!" they all say. And I don't know how you educate folks. These are the same people who would shrug their shoulders and say "So what," about NSA wiretapping. "I don't have anything to hide." There is no thought given to the possibility of abuse in the future once these rules or systems are entrenched and standardized. And now I officially sound like RMS-lite ;)
ozten 12y ago
Mozilla is working very hard to limit the DRM to Video. This matches what has happened in practice over the years. Ads and entertainment have been packaged up in Flash with DRM. EME paves that cowpath.
- throwaway2048 12y ago
  Just like they worked very hard to prevent EME?
  - ozten 12y ago
    The point is to put the slippery slope argument into context. Mozilla had made the sandbox very explicit and divorced form the rest of the content in the DOM.
r00fus 12y ago
> It's now only a matter of time before images, CSS, JavaScript, hell, even the text, are delivered through OS-specific, locked down CDMs Do you have any other sources that indicate this push? Seems a possibility but it's the first I've heard of this kind of lockdown. Seems like the cost would greatly outweigh the benefits...

by gergles 12y ago

secstate 12y ago

I think the bigger issue is how little the vast majority of technology users understand these issues. To them, so what if the movie studio wants to limit what people can do with a copy of their movie. "We've got streaming movies from major studios, yay!" they all say. And I don't know how you educate folks. These are the same people who would shrug their shoulders and say "So what," about NSA wiretapping. "I don't have anything to hide." There is no thought given to the possibility of abuse in the future once these rules or systems are entrenched and standardized. And now I officially sound like RMS-lite ;)

ozten 12y ago

Mozilla is working very hard to limit the DRM to Video. This matches what has happened in practice over the years. Ads and entertainment have been packaged up in Flash with DRM. EME paves that cowpath.

throwaway2048 12y ago
Just like they worked very hard to prevent EME?
- ozten 12y ago
  The point is to put the slippery slope argument into context. Mozilla had made the sandbox very explicit and divorced form the rest of the content in the DOM.

r00fus 12y ago

> It's now only a matter of time before images, CSS, JavaScript, hell, even the text, are delivered through OS-specific, locked down CDMs Do you have any other sources that indicate this push? Seems a possibility but it's the first I've heard of this kind of lockdown. Seems like the cost would greatly outweigh the benefits...