In a letter on behalf of the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), penned by Advisory Committee Representative to the W3C for the EFF, Cory Doctorow, has announced that the organisation has resigned from the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) over a disagreement in the direction the latter grouping is heading in.
In the letter, Doctorow explains why the EFF is withdrawing from the W3C. He explained that when the W3C initially proposed making DRM part of the web standards, the EFF objected but then moved to a compromise position because many corporate members of the W3C were “wedded to the project”.
According to Doctorow, the EFF was willing to make the compromise so long as the W3C extended its “IPR policies” to deter members from using DRM laws in connection with the EME except in combination with another cause of action. The leadership of the W3C rejected this call despite it being supported by a wide range of W3C members.
The EFF points out that the web standards body operates on the basis of consensus but that the corporate bodies, despite a “sizeable group of objectors”, was able to sway the leadership. The EFF says that the W3C process has been abused by companies in order to avoid “innovative pressures” and therefore has decided to withdraw from the W3C. You can read the EFF's open letter to the W3C Director, CEO, team and membership at the source link below.
Source: EFF
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