EFF resigns from W3C - An open letter to the W3C Director, CEO, team and membership

'In 2013, EFF was disappointed to learn that the W3C had taken on the project of standardizing “Encrypted Media Extensions,” an API whose sole function was to provide a first-class role for DRM within the Web browser ecosystem. By doing so, the organization offered the use of its patent pool, its staff support, and its moral authority to the idea that browsers can and should be designed to cede control over key aspects from users to remote parties. [...] We believe they will regret that choice. Today, the W3C bequeaths an legally unauditable attack-surface to browsers used by billions of people. They give media companies the power to sue or intimidate away those who might re-purpose video for people with disabilities. They side against the archivists who are scrambling to preserve the public record of our era. The W3C process has been abused by companies that made their fortunes by upsetting the established order, and now, thanks to EME, they’ll be able to ensure no one ever subjects them to the same innovative pressures. [...] We will defend those who are put in harm's way for blowing the whistle on defects in EME implementations. It is a tragedy that we will be doing that without our friends at the W3C, and with the world believing that the pioneers and creators of the web no longer care about these matters. Effective today, EFF is resigning from the W3C.' -- source: https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2017/09/open-letter-w3c-director-ceo-team-and-... Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, NZ +64 (7) 858-5174 http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

On Tue, 19 Sep 2017 10:28:45 +1200, Peter Reutemann wrote:
'In 2013, EFF was disappointed to learn that the W3C had taken on the project of standardizing “Encrypted Media Extensions,” an API whose sole function was to provide a first-class role for DRM within the Web browser ecosystem.'
Big Content continues to believe that the Internet needs them more than they need the Internet. The history of how the Internet became dominant over proprietary content-delivery systems that were set up in its early days, and even before it became popular, show that the opposite is true.

On Tue, 19 Sep 2017 10:28:45 +1200, Peter Reutemann wrote:
'Effective today, EFF is resigning from the W3C.'
More on Techdirt <https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20170918/16322838234/eff-resigns-w3c-after-drm-html-is-approved-secret-vote.shtml>: It was eventually revealed that out of 185 members participating in the vote, 108 voted for DRM, 57 voted against, and 20 abstained. And while the W3C insisted it couldn't reveal who voted for or against the proposal... it had no problem posting "testimonials" from the MPAA, the RIAA, NBCUniversal, Netflix, Microsoft and a few others talking about just how awesome DRM in HTML will be.
participants (2)
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Lawrence D'Oliveiro
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Peter Reutemann