[Noisebridge-discuss] Fwd: Cancel Netflix if you value freedom

Sat Jul 13 03:17:07 UTC 2013

for those of you attending webdev classes @ NB;
how bout writing some shit to address this...

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Free Software Foundation <info at fsf.org>

Dear ,

For the last few months, we've been raising an outcry against Encrypted
Media Extensions (EME), a plan by Netflix and a block of other media and
software companies to squeeze support for Digital Restrictions Management
(DRM) into the HTML standard, the core language of the Worldwide Web. The
HTML standard is set by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), which this
block of corporations has been heavily lobbying as of late.

The proposed adoption of EME is disturbing for what it says about the way
decisions are made relative to the Web, but what does it mean for you as a
free software user?

DRM <https://www.defectivebydesign.org/what_is_drm> and free software don't
mix. All DRM software relies on keeping secrets, like decryption
algorithms, from the user, so that users cannot design their own method to
modify it. The secrets are stored on users' own computers in places users
cannot access or even read. This practice inherently tramples Freedom 1 of
the Free Software Definition <https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html>:
the freedom to study how a program works and change it so it does your
computing as you wish.

This means that each time a part of the Web starts requiring DRM software
to decrypt it, it becomes inaccessible to free software. And if influential
companies like Netflix, Google and Microsoft succeed at jamming DRM into
the HTML standard, there will be even more pressure than there already is
for people distributing media to encumber it with DRM. We'll see an
explosion of DRM on the Web -- a growing dark zone inaccessible to free
software users. This threatens to happen at a time when the state of free
software-friendly media on the Web was starting to improve, with the
increasing quality of free video codecs and the decline of Flash
accompanied by the rise of the HTML5 video tag.

*Netflix's lobbying in the W3C is paid for by subscription fees, so we're
asking you to help pull that money out from under them by boycotting their
services. If you have an account, use this
link<https://movies.netflix.com/CancelPlan>to cancel it. Whether
you're canceling an account or not, you can help the
boycott build momentum by spreading the word with the hashtag
#CancelNetflix<https://www.fsf.org/share?u=http://u.fsf.org/cancelnetflix&t=I%20believe%20in%20the%20free%20Web,%20which%20is%20why%20I%20canceled%20my%20@Netflix%20account%20today.%20Join%20me%21%20#CancelNetflix>
.[1]*

This is about more than just movies and music on the Web. The adoption of
EME would represent an enclosure of the free Web and the incremental
erosion of users' freedom. What's at stake is not only whether you will be
able to save and remix videos or music, but also whether your web browser
and operating system can be free and continue to experience the same Web as
everyone else.

Microsoft has already modified Internet Explorer to start supporting EME
for media streaming. Simultaneously, Netflix has begun publicly promoting
Internet Explorer<http://techblog.netflix.com/2013/06/html5-video-in-ie-11-on-windows-81.html>,
revealing a two-pronged strategy of pushing proprietary browsers while
attacking Web standards in the W3C. If they succeed at passing EME,
pressure will be put on browsers (including the free browsers we use to
surf the Web) to support this corrupt new standard. Showing opposition to
EME now is a good way to demonstrate that, if it comes to this, we will
stand with the free browsers in favor of their ideals.
Standing up to Netflix at the W3C

Mark Watson, an engineer from Netflix, is spearheading the effort to pass
EME in the W3C, using his company's economic power to influence the
consortium. The FSF and our allies have been fighting back by organizing
free software users and the anti-DRM movement against the EME proposal.
More than 22,000 people signed our petition demanding W3C drop EME, which
we delivered in person to the W3C in
May<http://www.defectivebydesign.org/oscar-awarded-w3c-in-the-hollyweb>
.

We have accounts that we've gotten through to many of the people that are
involved with the W3C -- people who care about the Web understand that EME
is a terrible idea. But the W3C's leadership, including its CEO Jeff Jaffe,
are supportive of Netflix and its block. This became apparent when our
friends at the Electronic Frontier Foundation filed a formal
objection<https://www.eff.org/pages/drm/w3c-formal-objection-html-wg>to
EME within the W3C's official process, and Jaffe reacted by trying to
shove it aside and steam ahead with ratifying the proposal.

*This is the time to push hard on the W3C and Netflix, and demonstrate that
we refuse to choose between accessing the Internet and having freedom as
software users. Please join us: revoke your support for Netflix
now<https://movies.netflix.com/CancelPlan>and spread
the word<https://www.fsf.org/share?u=http://u.fsf.org/cancelnetflix&t=I%20believe%20in%20the%20free%20Web,%20which%20is%20why%20I%20canceled%20my%20@Netflix%20account%20today.%20Join%20me%21%20#CancelNetflix>.
Once you've canceled, how about donating those subscription funds to the
Free Software Foundation <http://www.fsf.org/jfb> or another group that is
fighting on your behalf? We will use those dollars to amplify the impact of
your cancellation.*

Sincerely,
Zak Rogoff, Campaigns Manager

[1] We encourage users to do their microblogging with Web sites that do not
include nonfree JavaScript, like identi.ca and other instances of pump.io.
If you prefer Twitter, you can use the mobile version of the Twitter
site<https://mobile.twitter.com>which works with JavaScript turned
off, even on a desktop computer.

*This post can be viewed online at
https://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/cancel-netflix-if-you-value-freedom*

-- 
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-- 

*~the quieter you become, the more you are able to hear...*
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