[fafner]

> How is it ruining the web to remove the requirement for crappy (and, at this point, end-of-lifed) browser plugins in order to play Netflix content?

Because then the Web will rely on proprietary binary crappy blobs in its basic functionality. Something which can't be implemented in an open source way. A plugin like Silverlight is no necessity for the web and if Silverlight is crappy and dying then that's really a problem of its users and Netflix. It shouldn't be my problem as a non-Netflix user. If the Web however starts to depend on such a crappy binary blob (which is the result of the EME proposal) then we all have to suffer and it will be a problem for us all.

In other words: If Netflix insists on DRM then they should write their own crappy plugins and applications but not ruin the open Web for all of us.

> You're acting like DRM didn't exist on the web prior to EME, and would continue not existing without EME.

No, we are not. We are just saying that EME will make the open Web depend on crappy proprietary binary blobs and hence no longer be open or libre.

> It existed and continues to exist using proprietary software that is shoved down users' throats.

EME is exactly that! It's proprietary crap software which is forced down everybody's throat because it makes the former open Web depend on it. It's not only something Netflix customers will have to deal with. It's something every web browser and web implementation has to deal with somehow. Which is impossible for open and libre implementations. Thus it will be the end of the open web.