Tell W3C: We don't want the Hollyweb

Hollywood is at it again. Its latest ploy to take over the Web? Use its influence at the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) to weave Digital Restrictions Management (DRM) into HTML5 — in other words, into the very fabric of the Web. Millions of Internet users came together to defeat SOPA/PIPA, but now Big Media moguls are going through non-governmental channels to try to sneak digital restrictions into every interaction we have online. Giants like Netflix, Google, Microsoft, and the BBC are all rallying behind this disastrous proposal, which flies in the face of the W3C's mission to "lead the World Wide Web to its full potential."

We're not going to let this slip through under the radar. More than 9,200 people have already signed this petition to stop DRM in HTML5. Join them and help us build momentum to reach 50,000 signers by May 3rd, 2013, the International Day Against DRM. We'll drive the message home by delivering your signatures to the W3C (they're right down the street from us!) to make your voices heard.

Need more information first? Read this article by our friends at the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

We call on the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and its member organizations to reject the Encrypted Media Extensions proposal (EME), which would incorporate support for Digital Restrictions Management (DRM) into HTML.

EME would be an irreversible step backward for freedom on the Web. It would endorse and enable business models that unethically restrict users, and it would make subjugation to particular media companies a precondition for full Web citizenship. Just as Flash and Silverlight are finally dying off, we should not replace them with the media giants' latest control fantasy.

Furthermore, EME contradicts the W3C's core values. It would hamper interoperability by encouraging the proliferation of DRM plugins. It would fly in the face of the W3C's principle of keeping the Web royalty-free — this is simply a back door for media companies to require proprietary player software. It is willful ignorance to pretend otherwise just because the proposal does not mention particular technologies or DRM schemes by name.

W3C and member organizations: don't weave DRM into the fabric of the Web.

First Name^*

Last Name^*

Email^*

I want to help Defective by Design fight DRM — send me news and action alerts.

After you sign, you'll receive an email from us that asks you to confirm your signature before we add it to the statement. Please note that signing does not put you on the general DbD mailing list; we will only follow up with you only on this particular issue. We will not publish or share your information with any party outside the FSF. See our privacy policy for more information.

If you represent an organization that would like to sign, see instructions at the bottom of this page.

Please share the Hollyweb image, which is copyright Free Software Foundation 2013, under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported license.

Read this page in French: http://www.defectivebydesign.org/no-drm-in-html5/fr

The following organizations support the petition to keep DRM out of HTML:

Call The Ninja

Electronic Frontier Norway

Gatsby Media

Modern Poland

Anansi Spaceworks

If you represent an organization and would like to add its name to this page, please contact [email protected] with your organization name and URL. In addition to this petition, we are preparing a separate sign-on letter for organizations with the same message. If your organization is interested in signing on to the letter, please let us know in your email.