No to DRM in HTML

Published on Nov 22, 2013 (updated Aug 17, 2024), filed under development (feed). (Share this on Mastodon or Bluesky?)

This and many other posts are also available as a pretty, well-behaved ebook: On Web Development.

It’s been quiet around DRM lately so I like to share my opinion, in brief: DRM doesn’t belong into nor anywhere near HTML.

For one, HTML is a language to describe documents and, since HTML 5, applications. I don’t deem DRM in scope for HTML. Even in the form of EME, as there won’t actually be a DRM-related HTML element nor even a section in the actual HTML spec. Setting the scope’s not my call given that I’m neither one of the spec editors nor in W3C’s chain of command, but that doesn’t all of a sudden make DRM relevant to describe a document or application.

For another and more importantly, there are far too many problems around intellectual property. The whole copyright system is broken. DRM itself doesn’t work and is argued not to work on the Web, either. With a broken patent system on top you can say that everything around intellectual property is dysfunctional—and go further and regard all of this a socio-political problem in the first place.

From my point of view there needs to be a fair, lenient, simple, robust, and actually working solution to intellectual property first before we should even think about bringing anything to the Web and its standards.

I’ve been contemplating to leave the HTML Working Group because of the whole DRM drama, symbolically, but I’m still staying in a holding pattern until I’m clear about a more effective course of action. No matter the confidence, this is a bit out of my comfort zone.

About Me

I’m Jens (long: Jens Oliver Meiert), and I’m a web developer, manager, and author. I’ve worked as a technical lead and engineering manager for small and large enterprises, I’m an occasional contributor to web standards (like HTML, CSS, WCAG), and I write and review books for O’Reilly and Frontend Dogma.

I love trying things, not only in web development and engineering management, but also in other areas like philosophy. Here on meiert.com I share some of my experiences and views. (I value you being critical, interpreting charitably, and giving feedback.)