Tim Berners-Lee Supports DRM in Browsers

The web used to be a very open place. But as commerce and big players started operating within it, the influence of money and power came with it. And that's what this is.

I can watch movies in my browser today, and i can't just 'download" them. Maybe i missed a memo, but this isn't the problem it gets made out to be - that there is no way to distribute movies without DRM in browsers, is not so true. There is - it's maybe just not perfect, or ideal.

And I recognize the current solutions are not perfect. But once you let a little DRM in, it paves the way for so much more.

My concern is a web that cannot be explored - basically reverting back to flash. Ironically, this is one of the mechanisms used presently for DRM. Which - is fine. But remember when most sites were flash based? What's to stop the major players from DRM'ing everything just because they can?

This won't make the web a better place. We won't see new tech or new possibilities - just more bullshit and more frustration. It will serve corporate interests well, but not ours. So with this the web becomes more for them, and less for us.

I'd love to be wrong, and see this play out in a tasteful manner. But knowing the players involved, that's not likely.

After reading, the biggest impression with which I was left was that Tim's comment does a decent job demonstrating the irrelevance of the W3C.