General Discussion

dixiegrrrrl

(60,010 posts) Thu Feb 28, 2013, 11:23 AM Feb 2013

"The BBC wants the power to order your computer to ignore your commands.”

BBC Supports Attempt to Sneak DRM into HTML5

The BBC has been accused of ignoring its charter by supporting proposals to add digital rights management (DRM) technology into HTML.

The Encrypted Media Extensions Proposal is a proposal to the W3C (the body responsible for web standards)
written by Google, Microsoft and Netflix which would allow your browser to interact with “content encryption systems”.
While it states at the top that “implementation of Digital Rights Management is not required for compliance with this specification”, it’s widely been read as a way for companies to lock down content — to stop your browser delivering a stream if it thinks you don’t have the right to view it.

Snip:

In a blog post on Computer World, open source activist Glynn Moody wrote:
“The BBC wants the power to order your computer to ignore your commands.”
Cory Doctorow on BoingBoing added:
“Naturally, this also requires a ban on free/open source software, because if your browser is open,
you could just disable the “I can’t let you do that, Dave” program.”

http://www.mediachannel.org/bbc-supports-attempt-to-sneak-drm-into-html5/

[font style=color:#CC0000;]What do you think? A future problem?
A trend in the wrong direction?[/font]

10 replies

= new reply since forum marked as read

Highlight:

"The BBC wants the power to order your computer to ignore your commands.” (Original Post) dixiegrrrrl Feb 2013 OP

wth! k&r Little Star Feb 2013 #1

I for one welcome our new Digital Rights Management overlords. Uncle Joe Feb 2013 #2

Not a good idea NV Whino Feb 2013 #3

Anyone that wants to do that will be something I won't connect to. hobbit709 Feb 2013 #4

I am wondering how widespread this will go. dixiegrrrrl Feb 2013 #5

The BBC aren't the only ones pscot Feb 2013 #6

I can see the reasoning for the BBC doing it, at least Spider Jerusalem Feb 2013 #7

I can't get live streams of BBC now, so am wondering dixiegrrrrl Feb 2013 #8

In other news, we have always been at war with Oceania. Orrex Feb 2013 #9

The Beeb already has a degree of this power. Pab Sungenis Feb 2013 #10

Little Star

(17,055 posts)

1. wth! k&r

Reply to dixiegrrrrl (Original post)

Thu Feb 28, 2013, 11:34 AM

Feb 2013

Uncle Joe

(58,366 posts)

2. I for one welcome our new Digital Rights Management overlords.

Reply to dixiegrrrrl (Original post)

Thu Feb 28, 2013, 11:44 AM

Feb 2013

I've always wanted to use that line and this seemed like a good place to do it.

Thanks for the thread, dixiegrrrrl.

NV Whino

(20,886 posts)

3. Not a good idea

Reply to dixiegrrrrl (Original post)

Thu Feb 28, 2013, 11:44 AM

Feb 2013

hobbit709

(41,694 posts)

4. Anyone that wants to do that will be something I won't connect to.

Reply to dixiegrrrrl (Original post)

Thu Feb 28, 2013, 11:48 AM

Feb 2013

dixiegrrrrl

(60,010 posts)

5. I am wondering how widespread this will go.

Reply to hobbit709 (Reply #4)

Thu Feb 28, 2013, 11:54 AM

Feb 2013

Right now it appears they are focusing on streaming issues.
But you know how it is when all you have is a hammer.....

pscot

(21,024 posts)

6. The BBC aren't the only ones

Reply to dixiegrrrrl (Original post)

Thu Feb 28, 2013, 11:54 AM

Feb 2013

Microsoft, Google, Oracle and a host of other players large and small would like to take over our computers. And do our thinking for us as well.

Spider Jerusalem

(21,786 posts)

7. I can see the reasoning for the BBC doing it, at least

Reply to dixiegrrrrl (Original post)

Thu Feb 28, 2013, 12:00 PM

Feb 2013

live streams of BBC content are meant for people who pay the BBC licence fee. Which is generally anyone living in the UK, but not the US (bandwidth isn't free after all); there are also international licensing issues that seem reasonable (this is why you can't watch Hulu in the UK).

dixiegrrrrl

(60,010 posts)

8. I can't get live streams of BBC now, so am wondering

Reply to Spider Jerusalem (Reply #7)

Thu Feb 28, 2013, 12:07 PM

Feb 2013

why they need more blocking.

At issue is DRM..Digital Rights Management...which initially had been focused on torrents and ebooks.
Now they want to put DRM into HTML code.
I can see a slippery slope ahead.

Orrex

(63,216 posts)

9. In other news, we have always been at war with Oceania.

Reply to dixiegrrrrl (Original post)

Thu Feb 28, 2013, 12:09 PM

Feb 2013

Pab Sungenis

(9,612 posts)

10. The Beeb already has a degree of this power.

Reply to dixiegrrrrl (Original post)

Thu Feb 28, 2013, 12:19 PM

Feb 2013

Go to its iPlayer. You have to be in the UK (or, well, using a UK proxy) to stream BBC TV content.

They don't need to lock you down harder.

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