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by shmerl 4747 days ago
These extensions are the future of premium video on the web, since they allow playback of premium video directly in the browser without the need to install plugins.

No, thanks. Future of video on the web is DRM free. Calling a dying trend "the future" is an indirect promotion of it, and Netflix can't pretend that they are neutral or even opposed to DRM when they promote it up to pushing it into HTML standard.
1 comments
recursive 4747 days ago
The only reason Netflix appears to support DRM is because they get content from organizations that demand it.
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shmerl 4747 days ago
That's how they present it. However they don't sound convincing. This announcement is enthusiastic, rather than saying "yeah, we don't really like what's going on, but our hands are tied, etc. etc.". If they are enthusiastic about DRM - they are promoting it. So it's reasonable to criticize them for it.

Today, we're excited to announce, blah, blah

People who don't like DRM and only use it out of supposedly necessity (bad excuse if you ask me), won't be excited about it.

Also, Netflix is supposedly streaming some content that they own themselves. Is it offered DRM free?

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jimbobimbo 4747 days ago
"This announcement is enthusiastic, rather than saying..."

Well, Netflix is in the business of renting video, not in the business of fighting DRM.

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shmerl 4747 days ago
I don't argue with that. All I'm saying - they are pro DRM. But when confronted about it, they try to deny it, and pretend they aren't. Being pro DRM is bad PR for them. Publishers are at least honest that they support DRM (out of some stupid reasons). It's not publishers however, but Netflix who pushes this garbage into the standard. So they have to bear the responsibility instead of pretending that they have nothing to do with it.
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baddox 4747 days ago
I don't see how that changes anything. Netflix supports DRM because they view it as imperative to their profitability. That's exactly why the content creators support DRM.
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quackerhacker 4747 days ago
Exactly! It's in the contracts Netflix signs for content distribution. So really this is good for Netflix , but CAN open the door for competitions. I don't think cable providers will let the opportunity pass them to stream through a browser.
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