On 11/10/2016 03:14 PM, Mr Harkness quoted some schmuck:
> Twenty-five years ago, Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web. I've seen this claim about a number of different people and you know? It's about as ignorant a thing to say as I can imagine. One person inventing the WWW... ROTF! MAYBE the TERM "WWW". Rr > ----- Forwarded message from "Zak Rogoff, FSF" <i...@fsf.org> ----- > Date: Thu, 10 Nov 2016 16:09:55 -0500 > From: "Zak Rogoff, FSF" <i...@fsf.org> > Reply-To: "Zak Rogoff, FSF" <i...@fsf.org> > Subject: He invented the Web. Would he give up on free standards? > > > Dear Mr Zenaan Harkness, > > The chief arbiter of Web standards, Tim Berners-Lee, has an important > choice to make this week. He must decide whether or not to allow media > and technology companies to add socially harmful [Digital Restrictions > Management (DRM)][1] into the technical capabilities of the Web, with > a proposal called [Encrypted Media Extensions][2] (EME). The companies > are currently asking for Berners-Lee's seal of approval to move EME to > the next phase of standardization: a Proposed Recommendation of the > [World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)][3]. > > [1]: > https://www.defectivebydesign.org/what_is_drm_digital_restrictions_management > [2]: https://www.w3.org/TR/encrypted-media > [3]: https://www.w3.org > > Twenty-five years ago, Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web. Back > then timbl -- as he's known online -- declined opportunities to lock > down his creation and established himself as an advocate for a > freedom-affirming, interoperable, and universally accessible World > Wide Web. Now he's considering turning his back on this vision to make > Netflix, Google, Apple, and Microsoft happy. > > **We have just days to convince Tim Berners-Lee to choose freedom for > the Web and block Encrypted Media Extensions from becoming an > official standard. Repeat the [GNU social][4] and [Twitter][6]¹ > messages from our anti-DRM campaign, asking Tim a simple question: > #WhatWouldTimblDo? Would the Web's once idealistic inventor really > give up on free standards?** > > [4]: https://status.fsf.org/notice/189277 > [6]: https://mobile.twitter.com/endDRM/status/796475563204550656 > > Not in to social media? You can also take action by [sending in a > selfie against DRM in Web standards][7] or [signing our petition][8]. > > [7]: https://www.defectivebydesign.org/selfie-against-drm-in-web-standards > [8]: https://my.fsf.org/civicrm/profile/create?gid=183&reset=1 > > ### Some background > > Big media owners, like the movie studios represented by the [MPAA][9] > and the music labels represented by the [RIAA][10], feel threatened by > the sharing that digital technology enables. Since the '90s, they've > poured bottomless resources into locking down not just the Web but > physical devices as well. One of their favorite tools is DRM -- > digital handcuffs that limit what people can do with media. > > [9]: https://www.defectivebydesign.org/topic/mpaa > [10]: https://www.defectivebydesign.org/topic/riaa > > These companies have never cared that DRM denies users the right to > control their computers, or that it causes huge collateral damage by > [opening security holes][11], restricting cultural creativity, and > [limiting accessibility for the disabled][12]. In fact, they've even > had laws like the [Digital Millenium Copyright Act][13] passed, to > give DRM special status that makes it illegal to circumvent. More > recently, companies that stream media, like Netflix and Google, have > forged distribution deals with media giants. These lucrative > relationships are an incentive to join the labels in their quest for > control. > > [11]: https://www.defectivebydesign.org/ten-years-after-sony-rootkit > [12]: https://www.defectivebydesign.org/disabling-the-disabled > [13]: > https://www.defectivebydesign.org/DMCA-exemptions-process-anti-circumvention > > In 2013 Berners-Lee surprised the world by allowing some of the > companies that use DRM -- namely Netflix, Apple, Google, and Microsoft > -- to start developing their latest project within the walls of the > World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), the official Web standards > organization led by Berners-Lee. Their project, EME, is a universal > DRM system for the Web. The choice Berners-Lee faces now is whether or > not to allow EME to reach the "maturity level" of a Proposed W3C > Recommendation, indicating he feels it is ready to become an official > standard and passing it to the W3C's Advisory Committee for > ratification. > > This is the first time that Berners-Lee and the W3C have considered > including DRM in Web standards. Berners-Lee seems to be hoping that > the big media companies will accept EME and use it to make DRM cheaper > and easier for streaming video, then leave the free Web alone. But > history shows us the exact opposite. DRM has to keep spreading to new > platforms and formats to maintain control over users, and its owners > have no reason not to use their massive power and money to continue > integrating it into more elements of the Web. Indeed, there are > murmurs about adding DRM to [text][14] and [image][15] standards, > which would be energized by the ratification of EME. EME foreshadows a > future Web that is riddled with DRM, where the freedom and > transparency of the system (like viewing source HTML in a browser) > will be gradually phased out. > > [14]: http://idpf.org/epub-content-protection > [15]: > https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2015/10/theres-no-drm-jpeg-lets-keep-it-way > > ### We won't give up on the Web > > Berners-Lee still has a chance to say no to EME and keep the W3C on > the right side of history. There is a real possibility that he might > -- he's [recently weakened his support for EME][16]. If he does reject > it, he will be congratulated by the community of technologists that > work in the public interest -- figures like security expert [Bruce > Schneier][17] and MIT Media Lab director [Joi Ito][18] have been very > clear that they want a Web without DRM, and more than 34,000 people > sent the same message through [petition signatures][19]. All timbl has > to do is remember his original vision for the Web, and block EME from > moving forward through the W3C standards-setting process. > > [16]: > https://defectivebydesign.org/blog/tim_bernerslee_just_gave_us_opening_stop_drm_web_standards > [17]: https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2016/01/fighting_drm_in.html > [18]: https://boingboing.net/2016/03/13/joi-ito-on-drm-the-world-wide.html > [19]: https://my.fsf.org/civicrm/profile/create?gid=183&reset=1 > > **Head to [GNU social][4] or [Twitter][6]¹, and remind Tim Berners-Lee > of his original vision for the Web.** > > [4]: https://status.fsf.org/notice/189277 > [6]: https://mobile.twitter.com/endDRM/status/796475563204550656 > > ¹: We recommend free software-based, decentralized microblogging > services like GNU Social and Pump.io over Twitter ([read more][20]). > > [20]: https://www.fsf.org/twitter > > Zak Rogoff > Campaigns Manager > > *Read online: > <https://defectivebydesign.org/blog/tim_bernerslee_created_sold_out_web>* >