[Infowarrior] - Firefox adding DRM

[Richard Forno]

Firefox’s adoption of closed-source DRM breaks my heart

I understand the pressure to support commercial video – but the browser makers can do more to defend free and open software

		• Cory Doctorow
		• theguardian.com, Wednesday 14 May 2014 13.00 EDT

Future versions of the open-source Firefox browser will include closed-source digital rights management (DRM) from Adobe, the Mozilla project’s chief technology officer, Andreas Gal, announced on Wednesday.

The purpose is to support commercial video streams. But this is a radical, disheartening development in the history of the organisation, long held out as a beacon for the open, free spirit of the web as a tool for liberation.

As Gal’s blogpost makes clear, this move was done without much enthusiasm, out of a fear that Firefox (Mozilla’s flagship product and by far the most popular free/open browser in the world) was being sidelined by Apple, Google and Microsoft’s inclusion of proprietary technology to support Netflix and other DRM-encumbered videos in their browsers.

In my long-running discussions with Mozilla’s most senior management over this issue, they’ve been clear in their belief that their userbase – and relevance to the internet – will dwindle unless they add support for viewing Hollywood movies in their browser. Not just Hollywood; the BBC has been one of the major “rights holder” voices calling for the addition of DRM to the web.

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http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/may/14/firefox-closed-source-drm-video-browser-cory-doctorow