For years, we have been fighting Web companies and Hollywood conglomerates who want to weave Digital Restrictions Management (DRM) into the technical standards undergirding the Web. Their DRM proposal, known as EME (Encrypted Media Extensions), would make it cheaper and politically easier to impose restrictions on users, opening the floodgates to a new wave of DRM throughout the Web. This puts all Web users at risk; DRM undermines privacy, weakens security, and is incompatible with free software. To truly respect users' rights, DRM's role on the Web needs to be reduced, not expanded. (Read our position letter for more about EME.)

Decision-making about the standard lies with the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). The standards body is under heavy pressure from Microsoft, Netflix, Apple, Google, and others to enshrine DRM in Web standards. But through in-person protests and online activism, we push back. Along with allied organizations, we have already significantly slowed the progress of Encrypted Media Extensions.

Protesters at a W3C meeting Protesters at a W3C meeting

Take action as a Web user

Take action as a W3C member organization

Publicly announce that your organization will:

Reject any extension of the charter for the HTML Media Extensions Working Group unless the charter is modified to end work on Encrypted Media Extensions immediately.

Reject Encrypted Media Extensions if it comes to the Advisory Committee for approval as a W3C Recommendation.

Reject any other proposed W3C standard that specifies DRM or a system designed specifically to interface with DRM.

Contact Defective by Design at info@defectivebydesign.org with questions.

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