https://theoutline.com/post/2304/netflix-microsoft-and-google-just-quietly-changed-how-the-web-works

BATTLE FOR THE WEB
NETFLIX, MICROSOFT, AND GOOGLE JUST QUIETLY CHANGED HOW THE WEB WORKS
The organization that sets standards for the web just failed to beat back a stupid, greedy technology.

THE WORLD WIDE WEB CONSORTIUM JUST HAD ITS BIGGEST CONTROVERSY EVER
At issue was how to support copyright-protected video in web browsers.
In the end, the consortium caved to what Netflix, Microsoft, and Google wanted.
Now, people are questioning the motives of the organization, which is supposed to make the web better for everyone, not just big corporations.

Bubaone / Getty Creative Images – A computer made of locks and keys.
BATTLE FOR THE WEB
NETFLIX, MICROSOFT, AND GOOGLE JUST QUIETLY CHANGED HOW THE WEB WORKS
The organization that sets standards for the web just failed to beat back a stupid, greedy technology.

Adrianne Jeffries
SEP—21—2017 10:36AM EST
This week the World Wide Web Consortium, the non-profit that debates and sets the standards that make all the web’s browsers and websites compatible, held its most contentious vote in history.
The proposed standard that was voted on is called Encrypted Media Extensions, or EME. Basically it standardizes parts of how copyrighted video is delivered within a browser. The most obvious effect of this will be that users will never have to download the Microsoft Silverlight or Adobe Flash add-ons in order to watch a copyright protected video from an authorized source like Netflix. This transition began in 2012 but is now set in stone.
Opponents, who include net neutrality father Tim Wu and stakeholders like the Ethereum Foundation, say this change will make the web less secure, less open, less accessible for people with hearing and vision impairment, and harder to archive. Proponents, who include large media companies like Netflix, argue it would actually make the web more secure, more open, more accessible, and, okay, more difficult to archive, but let’s not dwell on that.

Anti-piracy and anti-copying protections are now formally part of the World Wide Web after an effort to vote down content controls at the WWW’s standards body failed.

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) has been embroiled in controversy for five years over the introduction of the Encrypted Media Extensions (EME) specification. It finally went to a vote and was approved by 58.4 per cent, with 30.8 per cent opposed and the rest abstaining.

Some argue that a so-called digital rights management standard is needed so browsers have a common way to make sure that things like copyrighted videos are protected uniformly across the web. The EME technology – championed by Netflix, Microsoft, Google and others – is designed to stop people saving, copying and sharing copies of movies and other high-quality stuff streamed online without permission.

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), the industry body that oversees development of HTML and related Web standards, has today published the Encrypted Media Extensions (EME) specification as a Recommendation, marking its final blessing as an official Web standard. Final approval came after the W3C’s members voted 58.4 percent to approve the spec, 30.8 percent to oppose, with 10.8 percent abstaining. EME provides a standard interface for DRM protection of media delivered through the browser. EME is not itself a DRM scheme; rather, it defines how Web content can work with third-party Content Decryption Modules (CDMs) that handle the proprietary decryption and rights-management portion.

HTML5 DRM finally makes it as an official W3C Recommendation
30.8% of W3C members disapproved of the decision.
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2017/09/drm-for-html5-published-as-a-w3c-recommendation-after-58-4-approval/

An open letter to the W3C Director, CEO, team and membership
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2017/09/open-letter-w3c-director-ceo-team-and-membership