Can This Web Be Saved? Mozilla Accepts DRM, and We All Lose

How about just ignore the websites that implement DRM and let the free market decide if those websites will survive? People treat DRM as if it was going to turn us into North Korea when it comes to internet access.

From a comment by a Mozilla employee on another thread, it seems that the UI for this has not yet been determined[0]. It's possible that this may be presented to the user in a way similar to a plugin installation, except that the plugin happens to be provided by Mozilla (not a third-party).

This isn't great, but to the end user, it looks the same as Flash and Silverlight.

Especially if Mozilla were to add click-to-play for all such plugins, along with an explanation of what they are (think of the warnings that are currently shown for self-signed certs), they may still have an opportunity to do good with this yet.

I'd really love for Mozilla to remain as true to its mission as possible. On the other hand, Mozilla's power to do good in the world is intrinsically linked to its marketshare[1]. If Mozilla ends up being the lone holdout, it's possible that they will just lose marketshare as DRM content becomes more widespread - that would be quite a Pyrrhic victory[2].

I share in the EFF's disappointment at the situation, though (saldy) this has been inevitable for some time.

[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7744954

[1] Perhaps not 100%, but it's a major component of it.

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyrrhic_victory

Yes, let's ignore the problem and it'll go away?

If you could make the choice of what content to watch and what to watch it with independently, this could be said to be a free market decision. As is, my decision to support or not support DRM dictates the content I can watch. That for most people the content is more important gives the false signal that people are choosing DRM (which, in reality, pretty much nobody would).

That's not a functional free market. There is no market for non-DRMed content that's on an even footing with the market for DRMed content.

I must be missing something. I read the article and clicked the attached link to Mozilla's blog, and nothing seems radically to change for users other than a move sideways. Though I'm a little disappointed that there isn't a move forward, it certainly doesn't feel like a step backwards. Even Mozilla writes, "At Mozilla we think this new implementation contains the same deep flaws as the old system. " (emphasis mine)

Right now if you want to lock something down, like watching Netflix on your browser, you install Silverlight. In the future, Silverlight is replaced and Netflix uses XYZ technology but maybe with DRM-in-HTML or whatever. And as a user, it doesn't matter because most people I know today use a tablet with the native app, a streaming device such as the Roku player, or a SmartTV.