[Drm-elimination-crew] Leaving comments on stories about Netflix's "HTML5" approach

[John Sullivan]

One way people can help with the current campaign against Netflix's push
for DRM at the W3C is to leave comments on news stories that present
things in a biased light. I just left this one at
<http://gigaom.com/2013/07/18/netflix-presses-ahead-with-html5-as-free-software-activists-call-for-boycott/?go_commented=1#comment-1352140>
(it is currently awaiting moderation).

> Journalists should be more accurate when reporting this, and not buy
> into Netflix’s self description of this approach as “HTML5″. It is not
> that. You cannot watch Netflix with only HTML5 — you also need to
> install DRM, which is proprietary and non-standard. You need a browser
> with proprietary code baked in, or you need a separate plugin. The
> headline “Netflix pushes ahead with HTML5″ is no more accurate than
> “Netflix pushes ahead with proprietary DRM”. The best option would be
> both: “Netflix pushes ahead with HTML5 + proprietary DRM combination.”
> Leaving out the proprietary part is repeating Netflix’s marketing spin.

> I oppose DRM and work for the FSF, but I think the above point is
> actually an important one for objectivity regardless of your position on
> this.

-john

-- 
John Sullivan | Executive Director, Free Software Foundation
GPG Key: 61A0963B | http://status.fsf.org/johns | http://fsf.org/blogs/RSS

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