[LINK] Fwd: Defective by Design to continue opposition as DRM moves closer to Web standards

[David Boxall]

I sometimes ponder that there are good reasons why commerce and crime 
begin with the same letter.

-------- Forwarded Message --------
Subject: 	Defective by Design to continue opposition as DRM moves closer 
to Web standards
Date: 	Wed, 06 Jul 2016 18:13:44 -0400
From: 	Zak Rogoff, DBD <info at defectivebydesign.org>
Reply-To: 	Zak Rogoff, DBD <info at defectivebydesign.org>



/Read online: 
https://www.defectivebydesign.org/blog/web_drm_standard_next_phase_dbd_continued_opps/

Despite dedicated resistance by tens of thousands of Web users and civil 
society groups, Web inventor Tim Berners-Lee has allowed *Encrypted 
Media Extensions (EME)* to move to the next phase of development within 
the *World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)*.

EME (full text <https://www.w3.org/TR/encrypted-media>) is a proposed 
technological standard for Web-based *Digital Restrictions Management 
(DRM) 
<https://www.defectivebydesign.org/what_is_drm_digital_restrictions_management>*, 
digital handcuffs that video-streaming services use to micromanage 
users' access to legitimately obtained media. As Web users asserted 
while protesting the W3C's meeting this March 
<https://www.defectivebydesign.org/from-the-web-to-the-streets-protesting-drm>, 
DRM is coercive, disempowering and insulting to users. It also causes 
broad collateral damage to the health of our digital society. DRM's dark 
history — from the Sony rootkit malware 
<https://www.defectivebydesign.org/ten-years-after-sony-rootkit> to 
draconian anti-circumvention laws 
<https://www.defectivebydesign.org/end-DMCA-anti-circumvention-provisions> — 
demonstrates that integrating it into Web standards would be nothing but 
bad for the Web's users. It is predicted to stymie security research, 
curtail privacy, freedom, and accessibility, and set back the 
interoperability that is necessary for innovation on the Web. There is 
considerable dissent about EME within the W3C — staff member Harry 
Halpin has pledged to resign 
<https://www.defectivebydesign.org/blog/w3c_staff_member_pledges_resignation_if_drm_added_web_standards> if 
it becomes an official standard.

Defective by Design campaigns manager Zak Rogoff made this statement:

    "The W3C and its director, Tim Berners-Lee, are abdicating their
    responsibility — as stated in their official design principles
    <https://www.w3.org/TR/html-design-principles/> — to put users first
    in the design of the Web. We had hoped that Berners-Lee would uphold
    the vision of inclusion and empowerment that he articulated in his
    famous Tweet about the Web: 'This is for everyone.' But by allowing
    EME to continue, he has given license to Netflix, Google and media
    owners to warp the Web so that it works firstly for them.

    We are inspired by the worldwide network of activists who have
    joined us in our struggle for the freedom-respecting Web we deserve.
    Defective by Design will continue to escalate our campaign,
    deploying new and creative forms of resistance until EME is stopped."

The EME standardization effort, sponsored by streaming giants like 
Google and Netflix, aims to take advantage of the W3C's influence over 
Web technology to make it cheaper and more efficient to impose DRM 
systems. As of yesterday, the EME proposal is now upgraded from Working 
Draft to Candidate Recommendation within the W3C's process. Under the 
W3C's rules there are at least three more chances to pull the plug on 
EME before it becomes a ratified standard, also known as a W3C 
Recommendation.

*W3C member organizations wishing to join the campaign against EME are 
invited to contact Defective by Design at info at defectivebydesign.org 
<mailto:info at defectivebydesign.org>. Concerned individuals can start by 
signing Defective by Design's petition 
<https://my.fsf.org/civicrm/profile/create%3Fgid%3D183%26reset%3D1> or 
adding a protest selfie to the growing gallery 
<https://www.defectivebydesign.org/selfie-against-drm-in-web-standards>.*

Zak Rogoff
Campaigns Manager

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