The fight to keep DRM out of HTML is heating up. This Friday, Defective by Design will pay a visit to the Cambridge, MA, office of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) to hand-deliver our petition against the Encrypted Media Extensions proposal (EME). EME is an attempt to add attachment points for DRM into HTML, the core language of the Web. It is supported by Hollywood and proprietary software giants like Microsoft, Google and Netflix.
Adding DRM to HTML would cause a host of problems for freedom and interoperability on the Web, and we need to build the grassroots movement against it. Nobody except these big corporations want this change to the core of the Web, but most of the Web users that it would affect don't know about the issue yet.
If you haven't already, please also sign the petition demanding the W3C reject DRM in HTML, and encourage your friends to do the same.
While the W3C's rejection of this proposal won't necessarily end DRM on the Web, it will be a powerful statement that the companies who want DRM need to do their own dirty work. Companies are asking for this for a reason, because it will make it easier and cheaper for them to take away Web user freedom. They are trying to enlist the organization responsible for the integrity of the Web to undermine the integrity of the Web. We have to remind W3C that they are responsible for protecting the interests of people who don't have full-time staffers paid to advance their agenda through the official Web standards process, and that's what our petition is about.
The petition has made the rounds on the Web, and our movement is growing. Last week, 26 other Internet freedom organizations joined us in signing a letter to the W3C condemning EME and explaining why it goes against the W3C's mission to "lead the Web to its full potential." Today FSF president Richard Stallman added his voice with The W3C's soul at stake, an article warning that accepting EME would be an abdication of the W3C's principles.
By posting the banner, you're helping raise awareness of the problem and rallying your networks in this fight. The more people know about it, the harder it will be for Hollywood and its tech allies to slip this through. Let's stop the Hollyweb!