14 DAY TRIAL // Mozilla is begrudgingly going to follow in the footsteps of its fellow tech colleagues and implement support for the HTML digital rights management specification called Encrypted Media Extensions.
“Today at Mozilla we find ourselves at a difficult spot. We face a choice between a feature our users want and the degree to which that feature can be built to embody user control and privacy,” writes Mozilla chairwoman Mitchell Baker.
She explains that browsers must provide users with a way to watch videos. Due to a push from content owners, more specifically film and TV studios, technical mechanisms must be set up to prevent people from copying the videos, something that’s called “DRM.” Browser creators are finding themselves in a tight spot to implement DRM or studios will no longer allow their content to be viewed through a specific browser.
“The industry is on the cusp of a new mechanism for deploying DRM. (Until now, browsers have enabled DRM indirectly via Adobe’s Flash and Microsoft’s Silverlight products.) The new version of DRM uses the acronyms ‘EME’ and ‘CDM.’ At Mozilla we think this new implementation contains the same deep flaws as the old system,” Baker explains.
“It doesn’t strike the correct balance between protecting individual people and protecting digital content. The content providers require that a key part of the system be closed source, something that goes against Mozilla’s fundamental approach.”
And while Mozilla is certainly against such measures, the organization can’t do much to fight this trend on its own. For now, Firefox must fall in line with other browsers from major vendors, such as Google, Microsoft and Apple.
Mozilla explains that it has considered not implementing the new DRM, but video is such an important aspect of online life and a browser that doesn’t enable video is a flawed product.
Firefox users will be able to decide for themselves whether to activate the DRM implementation or to leave it off and not watch DRM controlled content.
The organization will join forces with Adobe to implement the change. “Mozilla will be adding a way to integrate Adobe Access DRM technology for video and audio into Firefox, via a common specification called Encrypted Media Extensions (EME).”
From now on, due to this change, users won’t have to download Flash or Silverlight first. It’s unclear exactly when the new DRM will be integrated into Firefox, but as all new features, they’ll be tested for several months in developer builds before being deployed to everyone.