Petition to Mozilla: Remove DRM

[Paul van der Vlis]

op 05-10-14 19:55, Pierre Schweitzer schreef:
> Dear all,
> 
> I'd like to raise a few points on that concern, because they are a few
> dark corners for me. I hope you can throw some light for me on this.
> What's exactly the matter with supporting DRM? It means that they will
> have to ship some closed source binary with Firefox so that DRM will
> properly work in Firefox?

No, there will be no closed source in Firefox, but Firefox will have a
mechanism what can download closed source from Adobe when needed, and
when the user allows it.

> If that's the case, what about letting the users the freedom to
> choose? Distributions rebuild their Firefox (or equivalent), so they
> can provide a DRM-free and a DRM-compliant release? I'm seeing this as
> it could be done for Linux with non-free and free firmwares. Perhaps a
> too naive approach?

It's like downloading and using non-free software.

A distro can remove the download-mechanism, or package it seperate in a
non-free repository.

> I'd like to highlight some major point in the end: the user must be
> free. That's IMHO the most important thing, and this shouldn't be
> forgotten. Let's impersonate a Firefox end-user. They want to be able
> to browse the web and visit sites that have an interest for them. This
> might include Netflix for instance. And this requires DRM support.
> Firefox doesn't have it and plans to have it. Why would we choose for
> the user what's good or not? That's not free software.

I think a browser like Firefox is important for us. When they would
remove the possibility to use DRM many users would go away.
Maybe it would mean the end for Firefox in time.

Chromium is nice too, but I like not to be dependent from such a big
commercial organisation like Google is. Now they've removed NPAPI
support from Chromium for Linux. I understand they do that, but many
people cannot use some important features like Java anymore in that
browser. In some countries you really need Java (Danmark, Mexico).

It's important that flash will go away. HTML5 with DRM is a good
argument to remove flash. At the moment many sites are migrating from
flash to HTML5. Without DRM!

I've removed flash (and free alternatives) completely from my computer.
I use only free software now and I've no big problems. Sometimes I get a
warning that I need flash, but it's most of the time for advertising.
Most video sites work without problems with HTML5 now. (But for many
cool games for kids, you still need flash.)

On the other side, I understand the petition. When Mozilla would not
implement DRM this would be really good for the fight against DRM.
Some sites will not use DRM because not all browsers support it.

But I am afraid it's not good for the market share of Firefox and I
think Firefox and Mozilla are important.

> Let's have the upstream developer do what he believes match the users
> requirements. And let's just ask him possibility to eventually disable
> such features if they don't match distribution/user philosophy.
> 
> Ideally, this should be implemented so that there's only one
> mainstream firefox and a closed-source module that you can
> plug/install whenever you need it. This would let the end-user the
> freedom to use the DRMs (or not).
> 
> Do you have any information about how the Mozilla Foundation plans to
> implement this?

https://blog.mozilla.org/blog/2014/05/14/drm-and-the-challenge-of-serving-users/

I am against DRM and I will not enable it. But I will not sign the
petition at this moment. But, maybe somebody can convince me.

What I hope, is that DRM will be not-used. WIll be hacked. Is irritating
people. I hope we will find ways to kill DRM.

What I would like, is when Firefox would give default a big warning when
a site uses DRM, even when you have installed the closed-source software
from Adobe. I would like to sign such a petition.

With regards,
Paul van der Vlis.

> If I'm missing anything, explain me.
> 
> Cheers,
> Pierre
> 
> On 05/10/2014 19:10, Hugo Roy wrote:
>> Hi,
> 
>> There's a petition to ask Mozilla to remove DRM
> 
>> https://www.change.org/p/mozilla-remove-drm-from-firefox#invite
> 
>> Best,
> 
>> -- Hugo Roy, Free Software Foundation Europe, <www.fsfe.org> Deputy
>> Coordinator, FSFE Legal Team, <www.fsfe.org/legal> Coordinator,
>> FSFE French Team, <www.fsfe.org/fr>
> 
>> Get our monthly newsletter, sign up! <https://l.fsfe.org/nl>
> 
> 
> 
>> _______________________________________________ Discussion mailing
>> list Discussion at fsfeurope.org
>> https://mail.fsfeurope.org/mailman/listinfo/discussion
> 
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Discussion mailing list
> Discussion at fsfeurope.org
> https://mail.fsfeurope.org/mailman/listinfo/discussion
> 

-- 
Paul van der Vlis Linux systeembeheer, Groningen
http://www.vandervlis.nl