Slashdot Mirror
What's Actually Wrong With DRM In HTML5?
kxra writes "The Free Culture Foundation has posted a thorough response to the most common and misinformed defenses of the W3C's Extended Media Extensions (EME) proposal to inject DRM into HTML5. They join the EFF and FSF in a call to send a strong message to the W3C that DRM in HTML5 undermines the W3C's self-stated mission to make the benefits of the Web 'available to all people, whatever their hardware, software, network infrastructure, native language, culture, geographical location, or physical or mental ability.' The FCF counters the three most common myths by unpacking some quotes which explain that 1.) DRM is not about protecting copyright. That is a straw man. DRM is about limiting the functionality of devices and selling features back in the form of services. 2.) DRM in HTML5 doesn't obsolete proprietary, platform-specific browser plug-ins; it encourages them. 3.) the Web doesn't need big media; big media needs the Web."
Also: the FSF has announced that a coalition of 27 web freedom organizations have sent a joint letter to the W3C opposing DRM support in HTML5.
Funny that you don't mention the bush tax cuts that keep getting extended.
You mean those tax cuts that lapsed in January of this year? The ones where my wife and I probably wont get a tax return above 1500$ this year?
How do you capture 121% of the wealth? Did they take 100%, then give 21% back and then steal it again or something?
Take 100% of the wealth generated during the "recovery", and a sum equal to 21% of that from the poorest 99% of the population.
No they don't. The goods they sell are less durable, requiring more frequent replacement. Their price demands drive jobs out of the country. And their unwillingness to pay their workers and compensate them fairly (healthcare) pushes additional burdens on society.
But hey, Wal-Mart is very profitable. Which is all that matters. Social costs? Who gives a fuck?
Although the results you suggest are the intuitive results of raising the minimum wage, the economics aren't actually that straightforward. It's clear that the minimum wage can be too high causing the detrimental effects you describe, but it can also be too low. See Wikipedia's page on the minimum wage for a starting point on reading about the debate. Also note that due to the very different structure of labor negotiations in different countries, "minimum wage" in some countries in Europe is actually not set by law but instead by an agreement between representatives of labor and representatives of business (err... whatever that means).
How can they sell something less durable when it is the exact same thing that you can buy at a more expensive store?
For example, if you buy a Samsung TV at walmart, it is the same one you'll buy at worst buy, only it (usually) costs less and it's always right around the corner so you don't need to use as much gas (and the dreaded carbon footprint) to find a worst buy all the way across town.
Same thing applies to food. Yesterday wal-mart had a sale on USDA choice marble steaks, about 75 cents per pound cheaper than Kroger. The USDA inspected the meat and found it to be the same quality as that sold at Kroger, but you're telling me that theirs is inferior? Ha.
But go on mindlessly telling yourself that wal-mart is ruining America by making good stuff easier for the poor to afford.
You know why wal-mart pays people crap wages? Because that's what they're worth. Most wal-mart employees I run into are just plain rude assfucks, one of whom got annoyed at me for simply asking if they had a certain size of Levi's (yes, the exact same Levi's that you buy anywhere else.) I guarantee you that they work there not because wal-mart is a great place to work, but because nobody else will hire their asses. If they tried to work at say Kohl's, where the employees actually treat you with dignity, they'd be fired on their first day on the job. In many cases, it's either they work there or just don't work. But people like you take it upon yourself to say that walmart is doing a great social injustice by giving these people a job, even if it is a shitty one, because god forbid they do that instead of going on the dole and drive the government further into debt.
When I shop at walmart, I don't expect to be treated like royalty. I shop there because at the end of the day I can get a cheap pair of Levi's.
Careful with names containing L slashdot.org/~AiphaWolf_HK slashdot.org/~AlphaWoif_HK slashdot.org/~AiphaWoif_HK
Of course I know the differences. But you're making the stupid assessment that the Bush tax cuts are still in place. Which they are not. So who's the "fucking stupid" one exactly? Yeah that's you.