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World Wide Web Consortium abandons consensus, standardizes DRM with 58.4% support, EFF resigns

It’s a sad day for the Web. Yes the controversial EME (Encrypted Media Extensions) – basically an implementation of DRM – is now in all major browsers and the writing’s on the wall. But W3C being complicit in this is just wrong. I’m glad that EFF is taking a strong stand on this important issue.

The W3C is a body that ostensibly operates on consensus. Nevertheless, as the coalition in support of a DRM compromise grew and grew — and the large corporate members continued to reject any meaningful compromise — the W3C leadership persisted in treating EME as topic that could be decided by one side of the debate. In essence, a core of EME proponents was able to impose its will on the Consortium, over the wishes of a sizeable group of objectors — and every person who uses the web.

Source: World Wide Web Consortium abandons consensus, standardizes DRM with 58.4% support, EFF resigns